Divers in the Dark
by ProAmoreLaeliae
Summary: What begins as a simple diving lesson turns into a surreal adventure.  Liley.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed my first three stories. With only three stories up so far (four, if you include this one), I must say I am quite honored to already have three of my favorite Liley authors reading and reviewing my work. So if anyone reading this has yet to read the works of TheBoredOne85, AlvinFan07, and dcjp, look them up and enjoy. They are awesome.**

**As always, please read and review. All criticisms are welcome.**

**This one is a little different from my previous stories. Okay, a lot different. This story is inspired in part by and dedicated to the late Ronnie James Dio, one of the greatest rock singers of all time, who passed away earlier this year. Rock in peace, Dio.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hannah Montana (though Christmas is coming, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed :-P ). Nor do I own any franchise associated with celebrities who may appear in this story. I also do not own any song or related intellectual property which Ronnie James Dio was involved in creating. No infringement intended.**

**Divers in the Dark**

**Chapter One**

"What do you mean you never learned to dive?" Lilly Truscott was absolutely aghast. "How could you never learn to dive?"

"I've never been much for falling face-first into things," Miley said rationally.

"It's water, not a pit of spikes," said Lilly.

"It's still face-first off of solid ground," Miley said.

"You are such a scaredy-cat!" Lilly accused.

"Fine," said Miley, "I'm a scaredy-cat."

"Uh-uh," said Lilly. "After school tomorrow, we're going to the pool and I'm going to teach you how to dive off of a diving board."

"Not a chance," Miley said definitively.

"Absolutely," Lilly said, just as definitively.

Miley sighed. "You're not going to let this go, are you?" she said.

"Nope," said Lilly, shaking her head.

"Fine," said Miley. "After school tomorrow, we'll go to the pool and I'll make a fool of myself or hurt myself and then we can move on with our lives."

"You worry too much, Miley."

"I'll be the judge of that," Miley retorted, "after this is all over."

**x.x.x**

The next morning, Lilly's phone woke her up before Miley. She quickly shut it off and crept out of her bed, checking to make sure Miley was still asleep. Quietly, she tiptoed over to Miley's dresser, looking through it until she found Miley's pink one piece bathing suit. Folding it up neatly, Lilly placed it in her backpack. That was the only way she could be sure that Miley wouldn't "forget" to pack her bathing suit, postponing the diving lesson another day.

As sure as the sun rises in the morning, Miley never even opened the drawer from which Lilly had procured the bathing suit. She also skillfully never let on that she was intentionally neglecting to pack her bathing suit. Of course, Lilly knew better, and she had to fight to keep a mischievous smirk from rising to her face as she thought about how surprised Miley would be that afternoon when she found out Lilly had packed her bathing suit for her.

The school day was mostly uneventful, and the last two classes dragged on seemingly to infinite, as far as Lilly was concerned. She found herself preoccupied with the diving lesson she would give Miley later. Images flooded her mind. She could see Miley standing on the edge of the pool in her skin-tight, backless bathing suit, flexing her elegant toes nervously as Lilly slid her hands down Miley's arms, showing her how to position her hands. Lilly could see, and indeed, almost feel her hands on Miley's hips as she showed her how to stand. And Lilly could see Miley trembling, because she was afraid, and she saw herself placing a comforting hand on Miley's bare back, massaging gently to assuage her best friend's nervousness. And now she felt . . . what was this new feeling?

The new feeling turned out to be the eraser end of a pencil jabbing into Lilly's back, drawing her attention back to the real world. She must have drifted further into her thoughts than she had thought. She was glad Miley was sitting behind her, watching out for her. Lilly could be a daredevil, but falling asleep in Kunkle's seventh period was not something she cared to try.

At long last, the bell rang and Lilly put her books in her backpack, then turned to Miley. "All right, Miley, time to go diving," she said with a happy grin.

"Sweet nibblets!" Miley exclaimed. "I forgot to pack my bathing suit."

"Good thing I remembered it, huh?" Lilly said, producing the cerise pink bathing suit from her back pack and tossing it at Miley. The goofy grin on Lilly's face was evidence that she could barely contain her jubilance at pulling one over on Miley.

For her part, Miley grimaced at the bathing suit, then leveled a piercing gaze at Lilly. "Well," she said, "aren't you quite the little sneak?"

"Come on," Lilly said, standing up and slinging her backpack over her shoulder. "You're not getting out of this that easy. Let's go to the pool."

Miley sighed, resigned to whatever fate awaited her at the bottom of the pool.

While the Seaview High School gymnasium was attached to the main building, the pool had been constructed more recently and had its own separate building. When the girls entered the building, they were assaulted by the thick humidity that rose from the heated pool. Lilly didn't mind the pool building in December, as Malibu was just cool enough that the sudden moist warmth of the building was not entirely unpleasant. Miley, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying the thick, wet air immensely.

"I don't know about diving," Miley said, "but I think I could sit in this building all winter."

"I like a heated pool as much as the next person," Lilly said, "but don't you think the air is a bit thick?"

"It reminds me of summer in Tennessee," Miley said, a wistful smile on her face.

"Thanks, but no thanks," said Lilly. "If I'm going to drown to death, I want to do it surfing, not walking around in the open air."

"It's not that bad," Miley said. "You've got to see Tennessee in the summer."

"Fine," said Lilly, "that's your reward for learning to dive. I'll go visit Tennessee during the summer."

"You'll love it," Miley said.

The girls had come to the locker room. Lilly set her backpack down on one of the benches situated between the rows of lockers. Fishing a quarter out of one of the bag's pouches, she turned to one of the lockers and put the quarter in the slot and pulled on the latch. She was rewarded by the sound of the quarter dropping and the door opening. She pulled her own teal bathing suit out of her backpack and placed the bag in the locker, leaving the door open for them moment.

Turning their backs to one another, Miley and Lilly started removing their school clothes. Lilly was just getting her pants off when she heard the tiny sound of clicking plastic that told her Miley had just removed her bra. She grit her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself not to turn her head, not to try to catch a glimpse of Miley's breasts, which must, she thought, be that same lovely porcelain color that her face and arms had been when she had moved to California in January eight years previous. Eight years in the Malibu sun had given Miley a gorgeous tan, but sometimes Lilly missed the china doll complexion that the Tennessee winter had given her. But Lilly would not ogle Miley now, lest she be caught in the act.

While Lilly was trying not to shamelessly stare at Miley's naked body, Miley was doing her best not to want to look at Lilly's. When Miley heard the thud of Lilly's blue jeans hitting the back of the locker, she couldn't help but picture the adorable, poodle-shaped birthmark on Lilly's butt that she had noticed years before during one of their first sleepovers. Nonetheless, biting her bottom lip, she found the resolve to maintain the loosening grip she held on the wall of denial she had put between her thoughts and her feelings for her best friend.

Finally, the girls pulled on their bathing suits, Miley in pink and Lilly in teal. "Let's get this over with," Miley said, turning to Lilly and sighing nervously.

"You're going to be fine, Miley," Lilly reassured her, grabbing her hand and leading her out to the pool.

"Says you," Miley retorted. "You're the athletic one."

"And you're the best dancer I know," said Lilly. "Diving is just dancing while falling."

"Falling face-first," Miley reminded Lilly.

Lilly scoffed. "You can't tell me that in all the years you've been dancing that you've never fallen flat on your face."

"Not once," said Miley. "I've fallen on my butt, on my side, on my back, but never on my face."

Lilly sighed. "I'm still not going to let you give into your fear," she said. "You'll be great at it."

"I'll try," Miley said.

The girls emerged from the locker room into the pool area. Lilly led Miley by the hand over to the pool's shallow end. "All right," Lilly said, "first things first, we need to take a dip in the water and get warmed up."

Lilly sat on the edge of the pool and slipped into the water, and Miley followed behind her. They started warming up by racing from one wall of the shallow end to the other. Lilly won the first race, but Miley won the next two. It was true that Miley wasn't much of an athlete, but as Lilly had pointed out, she was quite a dancer, and the resulting power in her legs made her a formidable opponent in water races.

Miley was about to start another race when Lilly dipped her hand open-palmed into the water, pushing forward and dousing Miley in the face with a giant wave of water. Miley sputtered for a few moments, but once she had recovered, a wild light appeared in her eyes. "You are so going to get it, Truscott," she said with a mischievous smile taking over her face. She sent a huge wave of water in Lilly's direction. Lilly returned fire, or in this case, water, and the girls spent the next five minutes exchanging volleys of handmade miniature tsunamis, laughing wildly when their faces weren't full of water.

Eventually, the water fight died down, and Lilly looked at Miley seriously. "It's time," she said.

The light in Miley's eyes dimmed perceptibly as she sighed tremulously.

"You're really scared, aren't you, Miles?" Lilly said, concern evident in her voice. Miley nodded her head stiffly.

Lilly swam over to where Miley was wading in the water and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you, Miley," she said. "I've got a lifetime in the water and lifeguard training, remember? Nothing bad is going to happen to you."

Miley let out a slow, shaky breath. "Okay, let's do this."

Lilly pulled herself out of the pool, and Miley got out after her. As they walked toward the deep end of the pool, Miley grabbed Lilly's hand and pressed herself as close to Lilly's side as she could. Lilly could feel Miley trembling against her. Now they were standing on the side of the pool on the deep end. Miley glanced up to the springboard that loomed six feet above the water, then turned her gaze and stared despondently into the water. Lilly put her hands on Miley's arms and turned the frightened girl to face her.

"Don't worry," Lilly said, "we're not going to start off on the board. We're going to start right here on the edge of the pool."

"I'm taller than you," Miley said. "It's still a longer drop for me."

Lilly smiled. "You'll be amazed at how easy it is once I show you how to stand and bend your knees right."

"Okay," Miley said, exhaling nervously.

"First," Lilly began, "press your legs together."

Miley followed Lilly's instructions.

Lilly sighed. "Facing the water, Miley," she said. Miley turned to the water and stood rigidly, like a soldier at attention.

"Okay," Lilly said. "Now you have to bend your knees."

"How far?" Miley asked.

In response, Lilly knelt down and put a hand on the backs of Miley's knees, pressing lightly as Miley bent her knees in response. Lilly felt a shudder run through Miley's body as the tips of her fingers lightly caressed the side of Miley's leg. Lilly wasn't entirely convinced that this shudder came from fear.

With Miley's knees bent properly, Lilly stood up and leaned in to whisper in Miley's ear. "You all right?" she asked.

Miley nodded her head unconvincingly.

Lilly walked around behind Miley and put her arms around her, grasping Miley's arms. "Okay, now put your hands out like this," Lilly said as she moved Miley's arms, placing one of Miley's hands over the other and angling her arms parallel to her knees.

"Now," Lilly said, "bend your head just like this." Lilly gently pushed Miley's head forward until Miley was looking directly into the water.

"See what I mean?" Lilly said. "It's not so far to fall now."

"Yeah," Miley said, her voice still shaky, but now sounding nervous rather than afraid. "That's not so bad."

"Now's the easiest part and the hardest part," said Lilly.

"What do I do?" Miley asked.

"Fall forward."

There was a long pause.

"Miley?"

"I can't," Miley said matter-of-factly.

"You're most of the way there," Lilly said. "The first time is always the hardest. Just lean forward and let nature take its course."

Miley leaned forward subtly, then back again. "I can't," she repeated.

"You can," Lilly encouraged. "Either you lean forward until you're in the water, or I'm going to have to push you."

Miley took in a deep breath, squeezed her eyes shut, and leaned forward. For a moment, Lilly thought she was going to do it, but just before Miley had leaned forward too far to return, she jolted backward again.

"Okay, Miley, let's try a different approach," said Lilly. "Remember when Jake kissed you and then you pushed him off that wall?"

Miley smirked maliciously at the memory. "How could I forget?"

"Okay, now imagine that you're looking over that wall again, yelling all those words that almost got you arrested for public obscenity."

A bitter laugh escaped Miley's lips. "Okay, I'm leaning over the wall," she said.

"Now imagine that Jake isn't lying on the sand," said Lilly. "Instead, he's floating on his back in the water. And if you dive just right, you can knock the living crap out of him."

Another dark laugh bubbled out of Miley's throat. "I'm coming for you, Leslie," she said, a snarl that would have scared Jake Ryan more than any army of zombie high-schoolers ever could fixed on her face. Miley leaned forward, eager now, and gracefully slipped hands-first into the water. A moment later she emerged triumphantly to hear Lilly clapping and cheering for her. Miley opened her eyes, a huge grin lighting up her face. "Got him right in the gut!" she cried victoriously.

"Go Miley!" Lilly shouted exuberantly, her voice reverberating loudly in the large open room. "Ready to try it again?" she asked.

"Yeah," Miley said, pulling herself out of the pool. "That was actually pretty fun."

Miley positioned herself just as Lilly had shown her before, and dove effortlessly into the water once more. She repeated the dive from the side of the pool three more times before she felt like she was ready to try the springboard.

"Are you sure you're ready, Miley?" Lilly asked, concerned. "Just ten minutes ago, you were scared to death to dive off the side of the pool."

"I guess I got over it," Miley said, a confident smile on her face.

"Okay," said Lilly. "Just remember, when you're on the board, you need to push off instead of just leaning forward. When you leave the board, your legs should be straight."

Miley climbed up the ladder to the top of the springboard and walked to the edge. She got into position, adjusting her angle for the new height from which she would dive. Then, taking in a deep breath and closing her eyes, she pushed off the board and was airborne. She felt like she was flying. With her eyes closed, she couldn't see that her angle was all wrong. She heard Lilly gasp and opened her eyes, but then her body struck flat against the water, and everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. No infringement intended.**

When Miley began to stir, she had no sense of how long she had been unconscious. Her head was pounding, and she wanted nothing more than to slip back into unconsciousness, but she forced her eyes open because she could feel that she was still in the water, though her face was above the water. But when she opened her eyes, she still couldn't see.

After a few moments, Miley realized that she could in fact see, but there wasn't much to see. Above her the sky was a dark, roiling purple, and she could feel that her limbs were caught up in some sort of binding. She shifted and kicked about, trying to get free of whatever she was caught up in, but it was to no avail. Tugging her arm upward, she managed to get a glimpse of her bindings, seeing that she was caught in a large rope net. That was when she became aware of the noises behind her.

Miley couldn't tell what the sounds were, but had she been asked to describe the sounds, she would have said that she heard chittering, like a group of anxious squirrels. The chittering grew more excited as Miley felt herself being pulled backwards. Soon, she felt something solid beneath her, and the chittering was louder than ever. Shadowy forms passed by her, just out of range of her vision. Hands gripped her arms and pulled her back further, then began unbinding her from the net. Some of the chittering started forming into words.

"We've got a pretty one, here," someone behind Miley said shrilly. This comment was followed by more formless chittering.

At last, Miley was freed from the net. She tried to shake the stiffness out of her limbs, but immediately she was flipped over onto her stomach. Someone wrenched her arms behind her back and tied them together at the wrists. Her ankles were similarly bound, and then she was lifted up and carried, to where she did not know.

There was a sound of metal scraping, and Miley tried to turn her head far enough to see what the sound was. It must have been a metal door, because Miley soon found herself being carried face-up toward the ceiling down a well-lit hallway. The walls were adobe-pigmented concrete with a salt-and-pepper finish. They looked ancient.

Miley still couldn't see who was carrying her. She tried to find her voice to speak, but coughed up water instead. Turning her head to the side, she spit the water out. When she tried to speak, her voice came out as little more than a croak that was unheard above the jubilant noise of her captors. She was utterly helpless.

Soon there was another sound, a rusty squeak, and before Miley knew what was happening, she had been flung to the ground. The ropes binding Miley's wrists and ankles were cut, and the loud, rusty squeak repeated itself, followed by a loud clang. Miley picked herself up off the floor and into a sitting position. She found that she was in a square room with two adjacent walls constructed of the same concrete as the hallway. The other two adjacent sides of the room consisted of a crisscross of wrought iron bars. On the side through which Miley had been flung, there was a door, constructed of the same wrought iron. The other side had no door; it was nothing more than a wall of bars. She was in a prison cell.

Miley tried to call out, to make anyone hear her, but her voice was still cracked from swallowing water. Nothing more than a rasp and a squeak escaped her throat. Not knowing what else to do, she crawled weakly over to the concrete side of the room, curled up against the corner, put her head against her knees, and cried herself to sleep.

**x.x.x**

When Miley awoke again later, she still had no clue as to how much time had passed. She sighed heavily. Her sigh came out louder than she expected, and it occurred to her that her voice might have come back. She decided to do a test.

"Hello?" she called out shakily. Her voice was still raspier than usual, but she could at least speak. What she wasn't expecting was a response.

"Hello?" a voice replied. Miley thought for a moment that the voice was an echo of her own, but this new voice was, at least for the moment, clearer than her own, though it did crack in its own strange way. Moreover, the new voice sounded more desperate than confused. For the moment, Miley was more confused than desperate. Still, she wanted to be sure, so she did the only logical thing she could think of.

"Is that someone else, or is that just my echo?" Miley asked.

"I may be an echo of my former self," the voice replied, "but I'm certainly no echo of you."

Miley looked over to the wall of crisscrossed bars and saw a figure standing there. The only light in the room came through the bars from the hallway, so she could see only the figure's shadow. Whatever it was, it was large. "Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm no one," the figure replied. The voice sounded like it belonged to a boy going through puberty in reverse; a low voice cracking and changing to become higher. "I once was someone, but now I am no one," the figure said. "It will be the same for you."

"Where are we?" Miley asked, trying to keep panic out of her voice.

"No one knows," said the figure. "Some of us have taken to calling this place 'the Rock.'" The figure emitted a painful, cracking laugh that seemed to hit two octaves at once. "I guess that's only fitting in my case."

Miley had regained some of her strength, and now she tottered slowly toward the bars of her cell. "You sound familiar," she said.

"Not for much longer," the figure said. "Not when they're done with me."

Miley came to the bars and latched her hands onto two of them to keep herself steady. Looking at the figure close up, it seemed more familiar.

"Yes, you knew me once," the figure said. "Before I was brought to the Rock, I was the Rock."

Miley gasped. "You're Dwayne 'the Rock' Johnson?"

"I was. Now I'm just Dwayne the Woodchuck. Or Dwayne the Almost Woodchuck. They're changing me."

"Why?"

"Who knows?" said Dwayne. "All I know is I woke up in the water tangled up in a net and they threw me in here. Ever since then, I've slowly begun turning into a woodchuck."

"Are they going to do this to me, too?" Miley asked, tears beginning to stream from her eyes.

"They've done it to everyone else."

"But I don't want to be turned into a woodchuck!" Miley cried.

"They won't necessarily turn you into a woodchuck," Dwayne said. "Others have been turned into squirrels, rabbits, cats, ducks, dogs—"

"I get the picture," Miley said, cutting Dwayne off. "So how do we get out of here?"

"Get out?" Dwayne said incredulously. "This is the Rock that beat the Rock. There's no getting out."

Miley sighed heavily. "I think I'm just going to go back to the corner and try to sleep again," she said.

"That doesn't sound half bad, now that you mention it," said Dwayne.

Miley returned to her corner and curled up as she had before, crying until once again she slipped into sleep. Considering the vastness of the dream world, she could have dreamt of her family, of freedom, flying, adventure, or anything in the world. But she only dreamt of Lilly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. No infringement intended.**

The next time Miley awoke, she was roused by the sound of the door of her cell loudly squeaking open. She looked up to see a forbidding silhouette standing in the doorway, the light from the hallway forming a fluorescent halo around the figure.

"Wake up," the silhouette commanded in a gravelly voice. The figure stepped further into the cell, allowing the light from the hallway to filter into the cell more evenly and thus better illuminating the creature that had entered Miley's cell.

Miley gasped as she took in what she was looking at. The creature stood at least seven feet tall and was shrouded in a hooded black cloak. The hood, however, could not cover the creature's face entirely; from the hood protruded the long, narrow jaws of a crocodile. "Wake up," the crocodile-man repeated, its teeth clicking loudly back into place once the words were spoken.

Miley took a deep breath and stood up slowly. Silently, she willed herself not to panic. "Who are you?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"I am Chancellor Krokylus," the creature said. "It is time for your audition. You will follow me."

"Audition?" Miley questioned, but Krokylus had already turned and exited to the hallway, where he stood waiting for Miley, his piercing reptilian gaze on her never faltering. Miley sighed quietly and stepped out into the hallway. Krokylus turned again and strode down the hall. Miley had to jog to keep up with the creature.

As she followed after the chancellor, Miley looked all around her for an exit or hiding place of some sort. But the only door was behind her, where she had been brought inside some unknown amount of time before. The hallway was lined with cells, some populated with creatures existing in a state halfway between human and animal, others empty, but there were no other doors or corridors, no place for Miley to hide or run. So she followed Krokylus.

At last, the hallway came to an end, and Krokylus stopped, turning to Miley. Behind the chancellor was a metal door identical to the one through which Miley had entered the structure. Krokylus spoke.

"You dance," he said in such a way that the words could be interpreted as question or command.

"Yes," Miley stuttered nervously.

"Good," Krokylus said. "You are scheduled to meet with the Dance Master first."

Krokylus turned to the door, grasping a handle and pulling outward. The door squealed open, and Krokylus stepped through, followed by Miley.

On the other side of the door, Miley found herself in a hallway that ran perpendicular to the one she had just left. One side of the hallway was nothing more than a blank wall, with the exception of the door Miley had come through. Cut into the other side of the hallway were numerous staircases, evenly spaced from each other. Krokylus led Miley to a nearby staircase and motioned for her to climb the stairs in front of him. With no other alternative in sight, Miley obeyed.

Each flight of stairs was separated by a landing and rose in the opposite direction from the previous flight. Miley had climbed five flights of these stairs when she impulsively turned to face Krokylus and asked him the question that had been burning in her mind since she had awoken.

"Are you going to turn me into a woodchuck?" she asked.

Much to Miley's surprise, Krokylus laughed. His snout snapped open and shut, his teeth clicking loudly as the ugly, gravelly rumble leapt from his throat. "No, no, no!" Krokylus exclaimed cheerfully when his chuckles had died down. "The woodchucks have their own purpose, as does everyone here, including you. But your purpose is special."

"Why am I special?" Miley demanded.

Krokylus leered at Miley. "You dance and sing," he said. "Your soul is deep. The woodchucks are entertainment; you are art." Krokylus leaned closer to Miley. "And even without all that," he said, "you're just too pretty to change. Just like the other girl."

Miley took two steps back from the hungry look on Krokylus' face. "O-o-other girl?" she stuttered, the knuckles on her left hand turning white as she gripped the handrail tightly.

"Enough talk," Krokylus declared abruptly. "You'll be late for your audition." With a scaly, clawed hand, he motioned for Miley to turn around and keep moving.

Several flights of stairs later, Miley emerged into another hallway. Krokylus came to the top of the stairs behind her, extending his hand, pointing to a regular sized wooden door. Miley approached the door and turned the knob. She pushed the door open easily and stepped through, finding herself in a large dance studio.

The mats on the floor were gray. The wall opposite the door was covered entirely by a mirror, and a barre, positioned waist-high, ran the length of the room in front of the mirror. In the very center of the mirrored wall, a woman with the facial features of a cat was stretching her legs on the barre. The fur that covered the woman's face was a smooth gray streaked with black stripes. Miley could see that the woman's feet were also more or less feline. Though not quite paws, the feet were not quite human either.

"Choroline!" Krokylus called out.

The cat-woman dropped her raised leg to the floor and turned to Krokylus. "Oh, Chancellor!" she said cheerily. "I see you've brought our new star."

"Put her through the paces," Krokylus commanded, then swiftly turned and walked out the door.

"Welcome to the dance studio," the cat-woman said to Miley. "My name is Choroline, and I'm the dance chief here."

"Where is here, exactly?" Miley asked.

"Aren't you inquisitive?" Choroline said dismissively. "But we have work to do. The Masquerade Ball is only two days away!"

For the next two hours, Choroline exercised Miley strenuously, rebuffing every attempt Miley made to find out more about her captivity. Without years of dancing experience, Miley would have collapsed quickly under Choroline's drill-sergeant-like instruction method. But Miley was resilient, and Choroline seemed pleased with her ability and endurance. At last, Choroline commanded Miley to sit.

"Food will arrive shortly," Choroline said tersely. "Then we will begin choreographing your performance for the Ball."

Miley sighed. She wasn't sure she could endure a choreography session in addition to the two grueling hours of Choroline's "warm-ups." But she saw no alternative, so she massaged her legs as she waited for the food to arrive.

When food arrived, Miley was surprised to find that the meal was quite good. It was all vegetarian, but was made of such high quality ingredients as to be quite tasty, and encompassed enough variety to provide for all of Miley's nutritional needs at the moment. She devoured the salad and sandwich hungrily.

Following the meal, Choroline taught Miley a complex dance. "Focus!" Choroline would regularly shout, whether Miley was focusing or not. "You will be performing this dance in two days' time, and it must be perfect!" At last, Choroline called another rest period. Miley sat back against the wall, breathing heavily. She wasn't completely exhausted yet, but she was getting close.

Miley's breathing was returning to a normal resting pace when the door opened and a new creature entered. This creature bore the appearance of an exotic starling, but stood six feet tall. Its head was a gleaming purple, its back and wings a pattern of deep blues, and its torso a soothing shade of orange. When it spoke, its voice was definitively male, but high-pitched nonetheless.

"Are you done with the girl, Choroline?" the bird asked. "I must teach her the song."

"Yes, Cantari," said Choroline, addressing the bird-man. "She's coming along very nicely. How's the other girl doing?"

A frustrated whistle shot out of Cantari's beak. "She'd better be able to dance, because she couldn't carry a tune in a bucket!" he said animatedly, his wings fluttering frenetically.

"Send her here when you take this one to the song room," Choroline said. "I'll have her whipped into shape in time for the Ball."

By now, Miley knew better than to ask questions. All questions were simply ignored. Besides, by listening carefully, she was starting to piece things together. Once she had put aside the strangeness of her situation, the situation had become quite clear. Quite simply, she had been kidnapped and imprisoned for the purpose of entertaining at a Masquerade Ball. Grasping that basic concept, Miley was able to deal with the bizarre nature of her captors on its own terms. This understanding also gave her mind time to contemplate the unanswered questions.

How did she get here?

How would she escape?

Who was the "other girl" who couldn't carry a tune in a bucket?

The last question disturbed Miley. She had already encountered one person, Dwayne, that she knew; it seemed likely that there were others here whom she knew. And what girl did Miley know who was too pretty to change into a woodland creature but couldn't carry a tune in a bucket? In Miley's mind, the only girl that answered that description was Lilly.

Miley quietly sucked in a deep breath, willing herself not to cry. At the same time that she was horrified that her captors might have kidnapped Lilly as well, she longed for the comfort of her best friend. Both emotions wrenched at her heart, but Miley's willpower prevailed, and no tears fell from her eyes as she followed Cantari out the door and down the hallway.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. No infringement intended.**

Miley followed Cantari down the hallway to a stairwell at the far end. She looked around, no longer seeking an opening for immediate escape, but doing her best to memorize her surroundings. A time would come for escape, but now Miley was concerned that Lilly had been captured as well, and she had no intention of fleeing without her best friend. For now, she would observe and wait.

Cantari led Miley down one floor and into a fully equipped music studio. Miley examined the studio with amazement. In the depths of this seemingly primitive structure of concrete and metal and wrought iron prison cells was an enormously expensive and up-to-date recording studio.

Miley's attention was drawn by a strange ringing sound, which was the sound of Cantari clearing his throat. She turned to Cantari, giving him her full attention.

"Go into the sound booth," Cantari ordered, extending his wing in the direction of the soundproof room.

Miley did as she was told. Inside the sound booth, a microphone hung from the ceiling in the center of the room. Likewise depending from the ceiling was a pair of headphones. Underneath the microphone was a music stand which held several pages of sheet music. Movement outside the booth caught Miley's eye, and she looked up from the sheet music to see the colorful, man-sized starling sitting down in front of a grand piano. Miley wondered briefly whether Cantari intended to play the piano with his beak. Then, to Miley's surprised, Cantari stretched out his wings, and hands emerged from beneath them. The fingers stretched and flexed, and then Cantari dropped his hands to the piano keys. Miley placed the nearby headphones over her ears and heard a beautiful melody arising from the piano.

"You will begin on the eighth measure," Cantari intoned in harmony with the melody he played. Miley nodded her understanding and looked back to the sheet music.

There were no lyrics to this music; Miley was to sing a wordless melody. Breathing in deeply, she counted the last three beats before her entrance, then began to sing, delivering the changing tones with differing vowels. As the music continued, she made some mistakes, having never seen the music before, but Cantari didn't seem disturbed by her minor flubs.

Halfway through the music, the key changed, keening sharps replacing sonorous naturals. The serene melody became sad, longing, and Miley fought to keep her voice as the melody threatened to overwhelm her emotions. The melody conjured up all kinds of images and emotions. Miley saw images of her mother, whom she still missed in a way that time could never diminish. Then she saw her first days in California, friendless, alone save for her Dad and brother. The music swelled, and Miley saw Lilly, saw her getting up from a table where she had been sitting with Oliver and some other girls, saw her walking over to the table where Miley sat alone, saw her sit down across from her and ask, "Do you really eat possum?" Miley saw the day a week after that when she and Lilly had been listening to the radio, and a song had come on that reminded Miley of her mother. She had burst into tears with no explanation, and Lilly had wrapped her arms around her and held her until she had finished crying. The sweet, sad melody was now imbued with longing as Miley's voice translated how desperately she needed Lilly with her now. Her voice cracked slightly on a very high note, but besides that she kept her composure.

At last, the music progressed to the final measure, and Miley stepped back from the microphone. Outside the booth, Cantari disengaged his fingers from the piano and turned to look at Miley. He pushed a button on a nearby console and spoke.

"They told me you could sing," Cantari said, "but I wasn't expecting anything like that on a first run-through. Rest for half an hour, then we'll run through it again. Then you should rest your voice for the remainder of the day, so that we can get the most out of rehearsal tomorrow."

Miley stepped back up to the microphone. "Uh, thanks," she said. "Can I please ask a question and get an answer?"

Cantari glared at Miley through the glass. "I'll do the best I can," he said.

"Wasn't there another girl here, in the studio?" Miley asked. "You said she couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. Where is she?"

"She was here," Cantari answered. "Chancellor Krokylus undoubtedly delivered her to Choroline as scheduled."

"Can I see her?" Miley asked.

"Absolutely not," Cantari said. His tone was not one of forbidding, but one of someone stating a simple fact.

"Why not?"

"Because it is forbidden," Cantari replied.

"Why?" Miley pressed.

"You're not resting your voice," Cantari complained. "Now hush before I have to tape your mouth shut."

Without realizing he had done so, in making that complaint, Cantari had given Miley the upper hand in the conversation. Miley was sure now that the term "audition" had been a formality, that she was the only star performer her captors had. Now she had leverage.

"If I don't rest my voice, you're going to tape my mouth shut?" Miley asked.

"If I have to," Cantari warned.

"You know what the funny thing about tape is?" Miley said into the microphone. Cantari cocked his head to one side, glaring curiously at Miley. "It stops the sounds of the voice from getting out the mouth. It won't stop me from using my voice. If you don't let me see the other girl, I'll growl my throat into ribbons, tape or not." To demonstrate, Miley produced a low, gravelly rumble from her throat. "I'll keep doing that until my voice is ruined," Miley warned, a mischievous smirk on her face.

"I can't," Cantari said, his voice becoming strained. "It's forbidden. It's not up to me." Now Cantari's voice became fearful and pleading. "Please don't ruin your voice," he begged. "You don't know what will happen to me."

The smirk dropped from Miley's face. The fear in Cantari's voice told Miley that he wasn't entirely free himself. Miley couldn't be sure that he was a captive just like she was a captive, but she was sure that Cantari wasn't entirely free, either.

"It's a deal under one condition," Miley said sternly. Cantari nodded gravely. Miley continued.

"If you know a way or find a way," Miley said, "help the other girl and me escape. You can come with us, and we'll all be free."

"That, dear girl," said Cantari, "is a promise I can easily make, because I know I will never have to live up to it. There is no escape from here. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can learn to be happy."

"Happy?" Miley shouted indignantly. "I'm being held prisoner by a giant crocodile-man and being forced to perform at some masquerade ball. How am I supposed to be happy?"

"Isn't dancing and singing your whole life?" Cantari asked.

Miley put her anger aside, sighing forlornly. "If it were just that, maybe I could learn to be happy here. Singing and dancing is almost my whole life. But there's one big piece missing that nothing here can ever replace."

Cantari cocked his head to the other side. "The other girl," he said.

"I think it's her," Miley said.

"She is blonde, athletic, with brilliant blue eyes and a singing voice that could curdle milk," Cantari said.

Miley nodded. "That's her," she whispered. "I've got dancing and singing, and then she's the rest of my world."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**A/N: This was originally to be divided into two chapters, but after posting Chapter 5, it was pointed out to me how abrupt the ending was, something I had not noticed in the haze of writing. Thanks to Anti-Gravity111 for pointing that out, Chapter 5 now actually seems complete. Also, I want to say a big thank you to all the readers and reviewers who have given their attention to this story. Thank you!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. No infringement intended.**

After the break, Miley and Cantari ran through the music twice more, Miley's performance improving each time. Then, abruptly, practice was over. Cantari had no sooner removed his fingers from the piano keys than the door leading to the hallway swung open and Krokylus strode in.

"Progress?" Krokylus asked.

Cantari chirped happily. "Near perfection," he said, his tail feathers twitching excitedly.

"She will be ready?" Krokylus pressed.

"Without a doubt," Cantari assured the chancellor. "But she needs food, water, and rest."

Krokylus turned his gaze to Miley. Extending his hand, he motioned for Miley to follow him. Miley stepped out of the booth and followed Krokylus into the corridor and down a single flight of stairs to a hallway Miley had yet to see. Krokylus led Miley down to the end of this hallway, where he extended his arm, indicating a simple wooden door.

Miley opened the door cautiously, then stood in awe when she saw what lay behind the door. At first, she wasn't sure where she was; the room was so intricately designed that at first she didn't see the stalls that contained rows of toilets and showers. The walls were painted in a vibrant shade somewhere between crimson and burgundy, and the floor was a tiled mosaic depicting roses. In the center of the room, on a soft beige rug, was a lounging area consisting of a luxurious leather couch opposite two elegantly upholstered chairs, a glass coffee table between them. Against the back wall, a gilt table held a rich array of flowers that Miley thought must be the origin of the sweet, distinctly unbathroomlike scent that gently permeated the room.

"You have not bathed since your arrival," Krokylus observed. "I thought you would wish to do so now."

"Wow," Miley said. "This is way nicer than the bathroom Choroline showed me earlier."

"This lavatory is restricted," Krokylus said. "It is available only to our most important performers."

"It's pretty amazing," Miley said. "If you hadn't kidnapped me, I'd say 'thank you.'"

Krokylus silently directed a clawed hand toward a large golden towel rack, where hung several complete sets of fluffy white towels and washcloths. On a small table next to the rack sat a caddy stocked with a generous assortment of soaps, shampoos, and conditioners.

"All right," Miley said, "but your scaly butt is waiting outside."

Krokylus grunted softly, then stepped back into the hallway, closing the door behind him.

Miley sighed with relief, truly alone for the first time since she had arrived. She quickly stripped out of her clothes and turned one of the showers on. While the water warmed up, Miley dropped her clothes on the back of the leather couch, then went to the towel rack bringing a towel and washcloth over to the shower stall. She then stuck a hand into the shower's stream, finding that it had warmed up already.

Stepping into the path of the falling water, Miley shuddered as the water's warmth chased the grime and weariness from her body. She didn't think she had ever been so glad for a shower as she was at that very moment. A deep, sensual moan escaped her throat as the heat began to warm her body all the way through. She wondered if anything had ever felt this good.

Yes, there was one thing, maybe no more, but at least one thing in Miley's experience that compared to this heavenly shower. The penetrating warmth, the feeling of cleansing, the feeling of being enveloped in joy, she had felt these things before. She had felt them when she and Lilly had made up after fighting, when they hugged for the first time after spending a day or two angry with each other.

An image rose in Miley's mind of herself and Lilly, their wrists joined by Oliver Oken's handcuffs, trying to hug each other without hurting themselves. When they had finally succeeded, the warmth had been electric; Miley had felt Lilly's touch jump-start her withering heart. Even now, the very memory of Lilly's embrace wrenched a high, shaky sigh out of Miley.

In the shadow of the memory, the shower lost its appeal. The water's temperature had not diminished, but Miley knew the shower's heat couldn't warm anything that it hadn't already warmed. The part of her that Lilly touched was too deep for the water to reach.

With a sigh, Miley picked up the washcloth and selected a body wash from the caddy and began cleaning herself. It felt good to get clean, but now the shower seemed more like a chore than a pleasure. If only Lilly were there, perhaps showering in the next stall, chattering away as she was wont to do under any circumstance, maybe then Miley could find pleasure in the water's warmth, in the creamy texture and gentle fragrance of the soap. Instead, these things all felt like cheap imitations of the joys of being in Lilly's presence, cruel props to remind her of her best friend: soap soft and smooth like Lilly's hands, slightly browned like Lilly's sun-kissed face, water encasing her in warmth but never warming her heart the way Lilly could.

Washing the soap off her body, Miley reached for one of the shampoo bottles. Examining it, she found that it was strawberry scented, just like the shampoo Lilly used. Miley worked the shampoo into her hair, breathing it in desperately, realizing too late that the scent only deepened her longing. With a frustrated scream, she put her head back under the water and ran her hands furiously through her hair, flushing the shampoo from her hair as quickly as she could.

Miley conditioned her hair as quickly as she could, rinsed a final time, then shut off the shower. She wrapped the fluffy white towel around herself and stepped out of the stall. Looking to the back of the leather couch, Miley saw that her dirty clothes had been replaced. In place of the pile of fabric she had left behind, a pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt were draped neatly over the back of the couch. Set on the end table next to the couch, Miley found a pair of socks and a set of simple but functional undergarments.

Miley dressed and stepped out into the hallway, where Krokylus stood waiting silently. Krokylus acknowledged Miley's presence with a soft grunt, then started off down the hall, Miley striding quickly to keep up. Krokylus led Miley down a flight of stairs, then stopped on the landing, turning to look at Miley.

"You require sustenance," Krokylus said flatly. Miley detected no question that required an answer, so she simply nodded her head once and extended her hand to indicate the next flight of stairs.

Krokylus grunted shortly at Miley's mimicry, then turned and led her down the next flight of stairs. Unlike the other flights of stairs Miley had climbed up and back down, this flight did not end in another hallway. Instead, Miley stepped off the last stair to find herself in a large, brilliantly white cafeteria. The floor was white tile, the walls were whitewashed cinderblock, and from the ceiling, bright white fluorescent lights beamed. The tables and chairs were white plastic.

The cafeteria was not, however, completely white. The assorted creatures that crowded around the tables, eating and chattering enthusiastically added all the color anyone could ask for. There were black cats and yellow birds and spotted dogs and gray squirrels. There were two horses sitting at one table. One was brown, the other a sandy color, and they ate with human hands, though the backs of their hands were covered with the black keratin of a hoof. A loud whooping sound drew Miley's attention to her right, where she was astounded to see an enormous sunflower leaning back in its chair, laughing heartily at something the duck sitting across from it had said.

Miley turned back to Krokylus. "So I'm guessing it's kind of taboo to eat sunflower seeds around here," she said.

Krokylus coughed from deep in his throat, making Miley briefly wonder if he had somehow inhaled a hairball. Miley watched as Krokylus made the same retching cough sound again, then raised one scaly hand to cover the front of his snout. Krokylus began to twitch, and Miley began to wonder if something was seriously wrong with him. Then Krokylus doubled over and began laughing uncontrollably.

Miley had heard Krokylus laugh before, but that had been a sinister laugh, a threatening laugh. This laugh was different. This was a deep, gut-wrenching guffaw, completely out of control, and it was starting to garner attention.

The creatures in the cafeteria had one by one grown silent, and now Miley was starting to feel a little uncomfortable as all the eyes in the room turned her direction. Glancing to her right, Miley saw that even the sunflower had turned her direction, and as far as she could tell, it was watching Krokylus intently.

At last, Krokylus regained his composure. Returning to his full imposing height, he swept his eyes over the creatures in the room. "Return to your meal," he said tonelessly. Every single creature in the cafeteria obeyed. Those who had already finished their food turned back to their empty trays, picked up their silverware, and pretended to eat.

Krokylus turned back to Miley. "I will return in one hour to escort you back to your cell," he said. Miley nodded, smirking silently. Krokylus strode out of the cafeteria and disappeared into the stairway.

Miley turned and walked over to the buffet line, where three squirrels chattered rapidly as they dropped heaps of acorns and walnuts into the bowls they held in their gray, furry, but almost human hands. The squirrels finished filling their bowls and scurried off to a table near the center of the cafeteria. Miley grabbed a plate and examined the buffet. She looked into the pan from which the squirrels had procured their acorns and walnuts, but now the pan contained a beautifully prepared spinach salad. Miley shrugged to herself and dished out a large portion of the salad onto her plate.

Stepping away from the buffet, Miley poured herself a glass of water, then looked around the cafeteria nervously. She wasn't sure if making Krokylus laugh had gotten her good attention or bad attention, and she was concerned that anywhere she sat she might get pelted with nuts or berries or the horses might spew oats at her. Ultimately, she gave in to curiosity and walked to the other end of the cafeteria, setting her tray and water down at the end of the table where the duck and the sunflower sat talking and laughing away. "Hey, y'all, I'm Miley," she said.

The sunflower laughed sharply. "Well, if it isn't the girl who made ole' Krokies laugh!" it said humorously in its folksy accent, its voice deep but somehow genderless. "You can call me Sunny."

"Sunny?" Miley questioned. "That's not very creative."

"What do you expect?" said Sunny. "Moonie? Cloudy? I'm the only sunflower here, so I might as well be Sunny."

The duck turned to look at Miley. "I'm Ronald," the duck said, "and don't let anyone tell you any different."

"What does that mean?" Miley asked.

Sunny spoke up. "It means that ole' Krokies insists on calling him 'Donald'."

"Why?" asked Miley.

"I asked him that myself once," Ronald said. "You know what he told me?" Ronald turned back to Sunny, and they both spoke in unison, perfectly imitating Krokylus' toneless speaking voice. "Alliteration." With that, Sunny burst into laughter again.

"He laughs a lot," Ronald said. "It's not like he didn't earn his name."

Miley smiled warmly, but behind her smile were questions. When Sunny's laughter had died down, she addressed the sunflower. "All right, Sunny," she said, "I'm wondering if you can shed some light on a few things."

"You want to know why you've been brought here," Sunny replied, its tone sobering significantly.

"I've already got that much worked out," said Miley. "I'm here to sing and dance at the Masquerade Ball. I'm guessing you two are performers of some sort, too."

"You got it," Sunny said.

"We're a comedy team," Ronald chimed in. "According to the powers that be, there's nothing funnier than a sunflower and a duck."

"That brings up another question," said Miley. "Who exactly are 'the powers that be' around here? I know Krokylus is in charge of the place, but I get the feeling he's just a deputy or something."

Sunny sighed heavily, its petals waving lightly with the breeze. "Very true," Sunny said, all humor gone from his voice. "Krokylus is just the chancellor. His master built this place to entertain himself and his cronies."

"We, of course, are the entertainment," said Ronald.

"So who is this master?" Miley asked.

"A hideous creature," Sunny said, petals fluttering in an expression Miley assumed indicated disgust.

Ronald nodded slowly. "Hideous indeed," he confirmed. We are all, Krokylus included, subjects of the Rodent King."

Miley grimaced as the image of a giant rat wearing a golden crown rose into her mind. "That sounds disgusting," she said.

"Very," Sunny said.

With a brief but powerful shudder, Miley shook off her disgust to ask one more question. "Okay, one more thing I need to know," she said. "Have either of you seen another girl like me?"

"You mean unchanged?" Ronald asked.

"Yeah," said Miley. "She's a little shorter than me, and she's got long blonde hair."

Ronald shook his head. "I haven't seen any other girls," he said.

"Neither have I," Sunny said.

Miley sighed. "She's here, but they've got her hidden away somewhere," she said. "Please keep a lookout for her."

"Will do," Ronald said. "Looks like it's time for you to go."

Miley followed Ronald's gaze and saw that Krokylus had returned. She turned back to Ronald and Sunny. "Thanks letting me sit with you. I got one last question, and I hope it's not as rude as it sounds. Sunny, are you a he or a she?"

Sunny laughed heartily at the question. "I'm a comedian, not a biologist. As far as I can tell, I'm an it."

Miley smiled. "I guess I can deal with that. Hopefully, I'll see you two again. Bye."

"Until next time," said Ronald.

"Be well, and think sunny thoughts," Sunny said.

Miley chuckled lightly. "I'll do my best."

Miley crossed the room, meeting Krokylus halfway. In his accustomed taciturn manner, Krokylus turned and led Miley back into the stairway. This time, Miley followed Krokylus through a convoluted route that she would be completely unable to retrace, no matter how hard she tried. They went up some flights, down some other flights, and up and down several more. As they walked, Miley engaged Krokylus in conversation.

"Everyone seemed pretty amazed that I made you laugh," she said.

"The price of being fearsome is that everyone is afraid to tell me a joke," Krokylus said. "I don't laugh because no one ever says anything funny around me."

"That's sad," said Miley.

"It is the cost of my duty," Krokylus replied.

Eventually, Miley and Krokylus emerged into yet another hallway that Miley had never seen. This hallway was very short, less than twenty feet from end to end. The stairs opened on the midpoint of the hallway, and two wooden doors stood across the hall, one to the right of the stairs and one to the left, both equidistant from the stairs. Krokylus led Miley to the door on the right, inserting a key and turning it. The tumblers turned loudly, settling with a loud clunk.

"This is where you will be staying from now on," Krokylus informed her. "For what it's worth, I'm bound by my orders. I really am sorry."

Miley looked up to Krokylus' face. His reptilian face was difficult to read, but as far as Miley could see, he was sincere. "What do you mean?" she asked, her voice shakier than she had intended. "Why are you sorry?"

Krokylus looked down at the floor. "You will see. Enter."

Miley stepped slowly toward the open door, turned, then stepped through the doorway into a room with solid black walls, lit only by a single uncovered light bulb hanging from the ceiling. A slight turn of her head showed Miley that only three of the walls were solid black. The fourth wall was completely transparent.

On the other side of the transparent wall was Lilly. She sat against the black wall opposite the transparent one, her knees pulled up to her chin, her arms wrapped around her legs. Presently, she jumped to her feet and leapt across the room toward the transparent wall.

"Lilly!" Miley cried out.

Lilly's mouth opened, and Miley could see that she was calling out her name, but no sound reached Miley's ears. Miley stepped up to the transparent wall, placing her right palm flat against it. Lilly reciprocated the gesture with her left hand, and kept trying to talk. But there was no sound. Miley knocked on the thick glass, getting Lilly to stop talking. Miley raised her free hand and tapped her ear with her fingertips, shaking her head slowly.

The frenetic energy dropped from Lilly's expression. A tear slipped from one eye, then a second tear fell from her other eye. Miley followed suit, and before long, both girls' faces were streaked with the salty remains of their mutual grief. Eventually, the tears stopped and both girls sank to the floor beside the transparent glass wall. Leaning against the wall, they fell asleep, cheek to cheek, side to side, the thick, soundproof glass an invisible but immutable barrier between them.

In the hallway, Krokylus observed the girls through a reverse peephole. A shaky groan escaped his throat and his vision began to blur. He blinked his eyes rapidly, and the blurriness dissipated. Now, however, there was a foreign feeling on his face. He lifted a scaly hand up just underneath one eye and ran a finger across the patch of scales. Moving his hand in front of his eye, he saw that his hand had removed moisture from his face, moisture that had fallen from his eyes.

Krokylus shook his head violently in an attempt to clear it, then looked back through the peephole at the girls sleeping as close as physically possible to one another. His vision blurred again.


	6. Chapter 6  Freeze

**Chapter 6**

**Disclaimer: Christmas was good to me, but I still do not own Hannah Montana. No infringement intended.**

When Miley awoke, Lilly was gone. Miley stared despondently at the empty cell next to her, considering how like that empty cell her heart felt. She sighed and shifted so that she was sitting with her back against the glass, then leaned her head back against the glass and closed her eyes. It wasn't until Miley opened her eyes again that she saw that the door to her cell was slightly ajar.

Slowly, quietly, Miley got to her feet and crept up on the door, suspecting some sort of trickery. Reaching the doorframe, she leaned over carefully and peeked through the aperture between the door and the frame. As far as she could tell, there was no one out there. Carefully as she could, Miley pushed the door open and stepped out into the hallway.

The hallway was empty of any other being, but Miley instantly noticed what was there that had not been there before. Brightly colored feathers formed a trail from the door to the stairway. Curious, Miley followed the path.

The feathers led Miley down one floor, then down a hallway and up another two floors. At the top of the last staircase, the trail of feathers came to a stop. Miley found herself in yet another heretofore unseen hallway. At the end of the hallway to Miley's right, unmistakable and impossible to miss, Cantari stood silently, facing the wall on the stairwell side of the hall.

"Not that I'm complaining," Miley said when she had reached Cantari, "but shouldn't I be locked up instead of roaming around free?"

Some facial muscles at the corner of Cantari's beak twitched, giving Miley the impression that the bird was trying to smile. "Some would have it that way," Cantari said quietly, "but you asked me to watch for opportunities. Now we have one."

Cantari lifted a wing, indicating the wall. Miley turned to look at the wall, and found herself looking through a long, rectangular window into a frozen habitat of some sort.

"Are we busting out of here on polar bears or something?" Miley asked.

"Look more closely," Cantari whispered.

Miley peered through the glass, trying to see what Cantari wanted her to see. But there was nothing of any importance she could see. Drifts of snow formed short, rolling hills, and in the center of the habitat was a frozen lake. Next to the lake was a fallen tree trunk.

"I don't see—" Miley said, cutting herself off when she saw the recumbent tree trunk shift. "What was that?" she gasped. A talking sunflower was one thing; a dead tree that moved on its own was another.

"That, dear girl, is Chancellor Krokylus," Cantari said.

"He'll die in there!" Miley asked with alarm. In spite of everything, she was starting to like the scaly regent.

"Not quite," said Cantari. "You see, it takes nothing for a crocodile man to be cold blooded in the scientific sense of the term. However, the demands of the Rodent King require that Krokylus also be cold blooded in the figurative sense; he must be ruthless, unemotional, detached. Something must have melted his heart, and now he must refreeze it."

"And that works?" Miley asked incredulously.

"It seems to," Cantari replied. "Now let me explain how that helps us. While he's in there, Krokylus can't move very quickly. If you are very swift, you can take his keys from him before he can react."

"Why me?" Miley asked. "Why not you?"

"For many reasons, not the least of which is that I would be executed for making such an attempt should it fail," explained Cantari. "You would be punished, but allowed to live. And, on a more practical note, the keys are in a pocket on his right side. My wings won't fit into the pocket."

"I can't really argue with that," Miley said.

"You must be quick," Cantari advised as he reached for the door separating the habitat from the hallway. "It is very cold in there, and you will become stiff and shaky before very long."

Miley breathed in deeply to calm her nerves. "Okay," she said, "I'm ready."

Cantari pulled the door open and stepped aside. A blast of frigid air struck Miley in the face. Being so used to California weather, the cold made her want to shrink away and give up. But she knew this could be her only chance to escape, her only chance to be reunited with Lilly. So instead of letting the cold discourage her, she let the cold reinforce her resolve. She stepped into the habitat.  
The inside of the habitat was even colder than the icy blast that had blown through the doorway. Focused on the task at hand, the cold activated her adrenal gland even as it chilled her blood. Putting subtlety aside, Miley broke into a run, sliding to a stop over the snow as she reached the lethargic form of Krokylus.

Miley got down on one knee and reached for Krokylus' robe, grabbing a handful of fabric and yanking it toward her. She heard the tinkling sound of many keys on a keychain and knew that the pocket was somewhere in the flowing material in her hand. Dropping one fold of fabric and then another, she eventually felt pointy objects pressing into her hand through the material. Holding the robe in her right hand, she stuck her left hand into the pocket and grasped the keys. But before she could remove her hand from the pocket, a scaly claw clasped itself around her wrist.

"What . . ." gasped Krokylus, "are . . . you . . . doing?"

"For what it's worth," Miley said, her voice wavering as her teeth chattered in the bitter cold, "I really am sorry, but we all have a job to do."

Without a second thought, Miley lifted her right hand, curled it into a fist, and brought it down with all the force she could onto Krokylus' wrist. There was a small cracking sound followed by a pitiable, weary moan from Krokylus. Miley was barely aware of the stinging in her right hand as she pulled the keys out of the robe with her left and stood up to run. Instead of running, though, Miley stumbled forward five feet and fell to the ground. Her legs had gotten cold and betrayed her.

Daring a glance behind her, Miley saw that Krokylus was rising to his feet. Krokylus rose slowly, clutching his right wrist in his left claw. Streaks of ice trailed from his eyes down his face. Even as Miley struggled to get back to her feet, another streak of ice froze into place beneath Krokylus' left eye.

"Think warm, think warm," Miley said to herself, trying to move her rebellious limbs. She was now on her hands and knees. "Think warm," she repeated.

An image of the beach popped into Miley's head. Eating cheese nachos at Rico's, lying in the sun, watching Lilly surf. A smile crept to Miley's lips as the image of Lilly riding the waves like some mythical sea goddess formed a ball of warmth in her heart. The keys in Miley's hand were freezing to the touch, but as she considered that these very keys would eventually open a door behind which Lilly was sequestered, the keys began to feel warm as well. Miley could see herself unlocking a door and Lilly bursting out and wrapping her in the sweetest, warmest hug she had ever experienced. At that moment, it occurred to Miley that she wasn't very cold at all anymore.

Now Miley was on her feet. Chancing another look behind her, she saw that Krokylus was drawing near, but was still faltering in the cold. Without another thought, Miley ran again, bursting through the door and shutting it behind her. Cantari was now at the other end of the hallway, presumably so that he would remain unseen should Krokylus' attention turn to the window. Miley skipped happily down the hallway, jangling the key ring as she went.

"We're good to go!" Miley said excitedly, then cast a glance back toward the frozen habitat. "He can get out of there, right?"

"Yes," said Cantari. "I considered locking him in there. His heart is frozen enough now that he will show us no mercy if he catches us."

"Absolutely not," Miley said emphatically. "If he has to keep his heart frozen to be cruel, that means there's a kind person underneath the scales. I won't let you kill him."

"Very well," said Cantari, "but if we stand here much longer he will kill me and make you suffer."

Cantari began ascending the stairs, and Miley followed quickly behind him. Suddenly, there was a loud hiss from the top of the stairs, and Cantari stopped dead in his tracks. Miley's right foot caught on a step and she stumbled, landing solidly on her left knee. Gritting her teeth, Miley got up on her right foot, bending her knee slowly back and forth. The pain began to lessen. Miley's knee would bruise spectacularly, but it wasn't broken.

Recovered from her fall, Miley returned her attention to the top of the stairs, where Cantari stood rigid. "What's wrong?" Miley called out.

"Get away, girl!" Cantari called out. His voice trembled fearfully.

Undeterred, Miley scrambled to the top of the staircase as quickly as she could. A few steps down from the top, she found Cantari standing face to face, eye to eye with Choroline, who crouched on all fours at the top of the staircase.

Miley was alarmed to see that Cantari's eyes were becoming glassy. He reminded her of a squirrel she had once seen staring into a cat's eyes. The squirrel had just sat there, staring at the cat, the cat staring back. Then, instantly, faster than Miley's eyes could see, the squirrel was lying broken in the cat's mouth. The cat had hypnotized the squirrel, and now Miley saw that Choroline was doing the same to Cantari.

"Cantari!" Miley shouted. "Snap out of it!"

Choroline turned her head quickly, hissing viciously at Miley. Miley stumbled backwards two steps, but recovered without falling. Choroline had turned back to Cantari, who was still motionless, his eyes now entirely glazed over.

Seeing no other choice, Miley balled her right hand into a fist and stepped toward Choroline. She didn't know if she could win a fistfight with the cat woman, but she had to try. She started to ball her left hand up when she remembered that she was carrying Krokylus' keys in that hand. Suddenly, Miley had an idea. Moving the keys to her right hand, she reached out and jangled the key ring over Choroline's head.

Choroline's ears started to twitch. She shook her head back and forth, and finally, with an angry mewling sound, turned around and sat up on her legs, pawing at the keys with her hand-paws. Miley jumped backward as Choroline's grasping limbs nearly seized the key ring. Continuing to shake the keys, she glanced over at Cantari.

"Now would be a good time to wake up!" Miley shouted. Cantari's eyes were still glassy, but they were clearer than they had been a moment ago. Miley dodged one set of Choroline's claws. "C'mon, buddy, now's the time!" she yelled. Cantari began twitching, but he still didn't seem to be aware of his surroundings.

Choroline swung a hand-paw out and scratched four red ribbons into Miley's left arm. Miley gasped at the pain, but grit her teeth, pulled her right arm back, and swung the key ring as fast as she could at Choroline's face, missing by a fraction as Choroline dodged, hissing and clawing. Miley backed up one step, then two, then stopped. She had backed into the side wall of the staircase. She couldn't escape to the left or the right; Choroline was right on her and not letting her go anywhere. Miley did her best to fight off the clawing hand-paws with the blunt weight of the keys.

Suddenly, a new sound filled the stairwell. A mad quacking sound descended over from Miley's head. She looked up in time to see Ronald the duck land on Choroline's back and begin flapping his wings madly. Choroline twitched, squirmed, and bucked, finally knocking the duck off her back. Then she stood up on her feet, assuming a human posture. She tried to step forward, but she tripped and fell face forward to the concrete floor. With an angry feline squall, she looked down at her feet, where she saw the jubilant florets of Sunny the sunflower. His stalk was wrapped around Choroline's feet like a rope.

"Hey there, pretty lady," Sunny said cheerfully. "You've got me all tied up in knots!"

Miley laughed briefly, but then got serious again.

"Thanks for your help, you two," Miley said. "She pretty much had me."

"Glad to help," Ronald said.

"Sure thing," said Sunny. "But you and Cantari better get going. We'll keep the Dance Chief off her feet until you have a chance to get away."

Choroline grunted with exasperation, but said nothing, knowing that the duck and the sunflower would let her go before Krokylus found his way to this particular hallway.

"Thanks," Miley said, then turned to Cantari. "Come on, we've got to go," she said to him.

Cantari nodded and started up the next set of stairs, Miley following closely behind.


	7. Chapter 7  Claws

**Chapter 7**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. No infringement intended.**

Cantari led Miley up two more floors, then exited the stairwell into a hallway.

"Where to now?" Miley asked.

"Down this hall is another staircase that should lead us to where your friend is being held," replied Cantari.

Miley and Cantari set off down the hallway together, but Miley came to the staircase first. "Up or down?" she asked.

"Up," said Cantari. Immediately, Miley was off again, bounding up the stairs at breakneck speed. "Two flights!" Cantari called out as he tried to catch up to Miley.

Miley climbed the two flights and came to another hallway. She waited at the top of the stairs, not sure which of the five doors in the hallway was hiding her best friend. Cantari soon joined her, pointing a wing at the third door from the staircase. "That's where she was when I last saw her," he explained.

"Let's hope they haven't moved her," Miley said grimly. She came to the door and started going through the key ring, trying to figure out which keys might fit. Cantari came up beside her.

"Try this one," he said, pointing to a small brass key between two silver keys. Miley stuck the key into the keyhole and turned it. The doorknob turned obediently, and Miley pushed the door open, her eyes wide and hopeful.

The hopeful expression on Miley's face dropped as the room behind the door was revealed. The room was another featureless, black-walled cell. In the center of the room, Krokylus held Lilly, his right arm restraining Lilly at the shoulders, his right claw hanging limp in the air. He held his left claw to Lilly's neck, one sharp nail lightly stroking her carotid artery. Fear was evident in Lilly's eyes, but she made no sound or movement.

"Let her go!" Miley screamed.

"Gladly," Krokylus said, "once you're back in your cell and that songbird sings no more."

"Please don't hurt her," Miley begged, doing her best to keep tears from forming in her eyes. "I'll do whatever you want."

"The rats are on the way to take you back to your cell," said Krokylus. "You will return my keys and go with them, and I will let your pretty friend live."

"Leave Cantari alone, too!" said Miley.

"You are in no position to bargain," Krokylus threatened.

Cantari chimed in from beside Miley. "Just go back to your cell," he said quietly. "This is the end of nothing, but now is not the time to fight." With that, Cantari half ran, half fluttered down the hallway and into the stairwell, disappearing from sight.

Miley nodded slowly. "I'll go," she said to Krokylus. "Just don't hurt her." Miley tossed the key ring onto the floor in front of her and backed away from the doorway slowly. Krokylus dropped his left claw from Lilly's neck, though he still held her in place.

Presently, the chittering creatures that Miley had heard when she had first been pulled from the water arrived in the hallway, filling the corridor with their vocalizations. Turning her head, Miley saw half a dozen rat-like creatures walking upright in her direction. These rat-men were smaller than most of the other creatures Miley had seen. Based on their size, they could have been children, but Miley doubted that Krokylus' enforcers were children. She turned to them and put her hands in the air. "I won't fight," she said dispiritedly.

The rats went into formation around Miley, three behind her and three ahead of her. Obediently, she followed them as they led her down the hall to the stairwell. She looked back only once, but there was little to see. The door to Lilly's cell had been closed, and Krokylus stood silently beside it.

Five minutes later, Miley found herself back in the cell she had been placed in upon her arrival. After the rats left, she peered into the next cell. "Dwayne?" she called out in a loud whisper. "Dwayne, are you still there?"

"I just got back, actually," came the reply. Dwayne stepped into the light. He was a bit furrier than he had been the last time Miley had seen him, but otherwise he seemed unchanged.

"Are you all right?" Dwayne asked. "You look exhausted. And your arm is all scratched up."

"I almost escaped, I think. But Choroline and Krokylus were one step ahead of me."

"Krokylus always is," Dwayne said.

"Not always," Miley said.

"What do you mean?" asked Dwayne.

"I stole his keys," Miley explained. "He has to freeze himself nearly to death to keep from turning nice. I was able to get his keys while he was cold, but once he was warmed back up, he was faster and meaner than ever."

Dwayne lowered his head, looking thoughtful. After a few moments, he looked back up. "I have a plan," he said. "During the Masquerade Ball, you will be locked in a glass cage. I can get you out of it, but you'll have to take it from there."

"How can you get me out?" Miley asked, her speech quickening in excitement.

"Just find something to hang on to and leave the rest to me," Dwayne said. "Oh, and a duck told me to give this to you."

Dwayne held out a hand, and Miley saw that he was holding a medium sized Ziploc bag. She took it and held it up to the light. The bag was filled with some sort of herb or spice, but Miley wasn't quite sure what it was. "Did the duck say anything else?" she asked.

"He told me to put the price of the bag on his bill," Dwayne replied with a chuckle.

Miley opened the bag and sniffed at the contents. "Catnip," she said to herself. A smile spread across her face. "Catnip!" she said, laughing a little now.

"You know what to do with it?" Dwayne questioned.

"I know exactly what to do with it," Miley said. "It's just a matter of when." Miley slipped the Ziploc bag into her bra, as there were no pockets on the clothing with which she had been provided.

**x.x.x**

Later, food was brought and Miley ate hungrily. Some indeterminate time after that, Miley raised her head from where she was curled up against the wall, hearing light padding coming toward her from the hallway. Soon, Choroline appeared at the door of her cell.

"Get up. It is time to rehearse," Choroline declared tersely. "I hope you have plenty of energy. Rehearsal will be long and strenuous. I have had to take over the duties of Song Master. No trickery or disobedience will be tolerated."

Miley stuck her tongue out at Choroline, but got up nonetheless and walked to the cell door, which Choroline had opened. As Miley stepped into the hallway, Choroline hissed loudly at her. Miley turned around and, without much forethought, punched Choroline in her whiskered face. Choroline stumbled backwards, hissing again.

"I don't want to hear it, Choroline," Miley said. "You said no disobedience and no trickery. You didn't tell me not to punch you, and a punch in the face is not a trick. It's just payment for services rendered." Miley hissed at Choroline to punctuate her point.

Choroline crinkled her nose disapprovingly. "If you don't want more scratches like the ones I gave you earlier, you will not do that again," she said.

"I wonder what the Rodent King would think of you threatening to scratch up his star entertainer," Miley said. "Krokylus said I was too pretty to turn into an animal. Surely that means I'm to pretty to be damaged in such a way."

One of Choroline's paws shot out and struck Miley in the face, but the claws were retracted. Miley felt like she had been hit in the face with a teddy bear, and she laughed. "Come on, cat-woman," Miley said. "We've got a show to put on, whether you like your star performer or not. Let's get to work."

Miley set off toward the stairwell while Choroline stood frozen in dismay at how the tables had been turned on her.

"Are you coming or not?" Miley demanded as she reached the stairwell. "I don't remember how to get to your studio."

Choroline purred dangerously as she passed Miley and started up the stairs, but Miley knew the vocalizations were empty of any real threat.

Soon, Miley was following Choroline's warm-up routine in the dance studio. When that was done, Choroline ran Miley through the dance routine for the Ball again, making only a few minor corrections. Following that, Miley ran through the dance while singing the song. By the end of the song and dance, Choroline's hair was standing on end and her eyes were flashing with barely contained rage.

"What's your problem?" Miley asked. "I hit every note and every step just right."

"I'm just waiting for you to give me an excuse to rip you to shreds," Choroline hissed.

Miley smiled scornfully. "And I'm not giving you any excuses," she said. "You'd love it if you could go to your Rodent King and tell him that I wasn't worth the trouble, so you went ahead and scratched me up real good. But you can't. I'm not just the best you've got, I'm the best you could ever get. So for all your desire to hurt me, you can't."

Choroline let out a frustrated feline grunt and stormed over to the other side of the dance studio, where she stood staring into the corner and making angry mewling noises.

"A practical question," Miley called out. Choroline turned her flashing eyes on Miley. "How did you get to be such a good dancer," Miley said, "without learning how to deal with a diva? I mean, I don't even have my diva switch turned all the way on, and you're about to explode."

In response, Choroline hissed loudly and turned back to the corner of the room.

"What's eating you, kitty-cat?" Miley asked.

Choroline whipped her head around again. "You betray the Rodent King by trying to escape and turning his people against him, and then you have the gall to use his name to manipulate me," she said. Miley could see that Choroline was shaking. "Why shouldn't I hate you?"

"You should be helping me," Miley said. "Wouldn't you like to escape?"

"Escape?" Choroline shrieked. "This is my home!"

"You're here by choice?" Miley asked incredulously.

"Not at first," Choroline said, her voice returning to a normal tone, though it still shook with emotion. "But over time, I came to love it here. Now, you and your friend stand to destroy everything."

"I don't understand," Miley said.

"You are the Rodent King's new star," Choroline said, the tremor in her voice growing. "You will eventually replace me."

"You love him," Miley gasped.

Choroline spat angrily at the floor and turned her gaze back to the corner of the room.


	8. Chapter 8  The Rodent King

**Chapter 8**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. No infringement intended.**

Once Choroline had finished fuming at the walls, she took Miley to a new cell, loping languidly on all fours as she led Miley through the hallways and stairwells in icy silence. Climbing one stairwell, Miley started to feel that there were eyes on her. She looked about, but didn't see anything at first. Gazing up into the darkness of a stairwell on her right, however, she saw something move in the shadows. Stopping and craning her neck to look more closely as Choroline loped obliviously ahead, Miley saw the outline of a duck. The duck stepped briefly into the light, and Miley saw that it held a single key in its beak. Miley smiled but said nothing, resuming her path behind Choroline as the duck stepped back into the shadows.

At the end of the hallway, Choroline turned and descended another stairwell. Miley was about to step onto the first stair when she heard a door open quietly nearby. Looking sideways down the hall, she saw a single leaf unfurling from the closest doorway. Curled up in that leaf was another key. Almost as soon as it had appeared, the leaf disappeared back into the doorway, and Miley heard a quiet click as the door shut again. Smiling inwardly, Miley continued to follow Choroline down the stairs.

On the next hallway, Miley saw two woodchucks standing in the shadowy doorway of an unlit room. Each held a key in its hand. Miley's eyes widened, but she betrayed no other emotion as she continued walking. Halfway down the hallway, Miley saw a woodland habitat behind a large, rectangular window. Inside the habitat, squirrels ran to and fro, hunting for nuts and chasing each other up and down trees. Looking more closely, Miley saw a squirrel and a rabbit leaning side by side against one of the trees. The rabbit had a key secured in one of its ears, and the squirrel held yet another key in its paws.

Choroline led Miley down one more flight of stairs, then stopped at a doorway. She stood upright and opened the door, motioning for Miley to go in. Miley obeyed expressionlessly. Only when she heard the door shut behind her did Miley allow herself to show any emotion, but once she was sure Choroline was gone, she burst into laughter, though she did try to laugh as quietly as she could, just in case someone was listening by unknown means.

Some time passed silently before the door to Miley's cell opened again. Standing in the doorway was Krokylus. His right wrist was wrapped in a simple brace, and he carried a tray of food with his left arm.

"Eat," he commanded.

"Gladly," Miley said with a smile.

While Miley ate, Krokylus stood in the doorway, watching her eat, his reptilian face inscrutable. When Miley had finished her food, she handed the tray back to him, which he took.

"Now," Krokylus said, "you will explain to me how my keys have disappeared again."

Miley laughed. "You know as well as I do that I haven't had the chance to steal your keys," she said.

"I said nothing to imply that you had," Krokylus said. "I asked how they disappeared, because I think you know."

Miley shook her head slowly, a wry smile touching her lips. "I really don't."

"Maybe if I hurt your friend you will tell me," Krokylus threatened.

"Hurting her won't make me know things I don't know," Miley said. "But if you don't have your keys, someone does, which means I'll get out of here sooner or later. If I find out you laid one claw on her, I'll kill you."

"You don't have it in you," said Krokylus.

"Not now, I don't," said Miley. "I've seen the good in you, which is why I didn't lock you in that icebox. I could have killed you then, but I thought you deserved the chance to live. If you hurt her, though, I won't give you the same benefit of the doubt next time."

Krokylus looked Miley up and down, examining her. At last, he spoke. "I won't hurt your friend," he said, "but I will find those keys." Abruptly, he turned and disappeared into the hallway, slamming the door behind him.

**x.x.x**

Miley fell asleep not long after her conversation with Krokylus. She was awakened by the deafening sound of trumpets, jolting her into a standing position. Looking around her cell, her eyes finally fell on two audio speakers mounted in two of the top corners of the room.

The noise of the trumpets died down and was replaced by the voice of Krokylus. "All stand ready and hail," he said over the speakers. "The Rodent King has arrived."

Miley snapped to a military salute. "All hail the Rodent King," she said with a laugh. "King of Cooties, Majesty of Muck, Sultan of the Sewers!" she went on, making herself laugh even more. Her laughter was short-lived, though, as she thought about how much she missed hearing Lilly laugh, and how she especially missed making Lilly laugh.

"We'll get out of this," Miley encouraged herself.

A minute later, the door to Miley's cell opened, and Choroline stood in the doorway. "You will bathe now," Choroline said tersely. "Then you will be fed. Then it will be time for the Masquerade Ball."

Miley followed Choroline, who led her to the same lavatory that Krokylus had taken her to previously. After her shower, she dressed in a pink leotard that had been left on the back of the couch in the middle of the room. No sooner had she dressed, making sure to once again secure the bag of catnip in her bra, than Choroline brought in a tray of food, which Miley ate eagerly. Once Miley finished her meal, Choroline motioned for Miley to follow her.

Choroline led Miley in a definitively upward direction. They passed through several hallways and stairwells, always going up. At last, they emerged from a stairwell to face a large, metal double door. Choroline approached a lever to the right of the doorway and pulled it down. Slowly, creaking and scraping, the doors opened inward and Choroline led Miley through them and into the room beyond.

"Welcome to the Great Hall, you ingrate," Choroline growled.

Miley took in her surroundings. The Great Hall was an immense, perfectly square room. The floor, ceiling, and walls were all a sandy golden color. Set up all about the floor of the Great Hall were tables covered in elegant tablecloths and heaps and mounds of food. On the wall to Miley's right was a small stage with two microphone stands in front of two bar stools. In front of the stage was a triangular stack of tree trunks, all cut and sanded to a standard size.

Against the ceiling opposite from where Miley stood was a gray metal platform in the midst of some sort of machinery. The machinery consisted of a great number of gears, large and small. Miley didn't have a clue as to the purpose of the machinery. Beside the machinery was a clear, glass cube that was somehow attached to the ceiling. Opposite the glass cube, nearly directly above where Miley stood now, was another glass cube.

"Come along," Choroline said, walking away from Miley. Looking ahead of Choroline, Miley saw what looked like an old-fashioned elevator. She followed Choroline to it, and Choroline pulled the elevator's cage-style door and stepped into the compartment. Miley followed behind her. Choroline pulled the door shut again and pushed a button. The elevator rose, and soon Miley found herself stepping out of the elevator and through a glass door into the glass cube across the room from the strange machinery. The glass cube next to the machinery was mounted directly opposite from her own, and she could see inside it clearly. It was empty for the time being.

"This is where you will sing and dance," said Choroline. "There are microphones that will pick up your voice, so you needn't worry about being heard."

Choroline turned and departed from the glass cube, shutting the glass door behind her and locking it. She returned to the elevator and soon disappeared from sight.

Miley turned back around to see movement in the glass cube across from her. Rats were scurrying about, but a figure trudged behind them. Miley ran up to the edge of her own cube, pressing her hands and face against the glass, and realized with a gasp that the figure being led into the other cube was Lilly.

"What now?" Miley wondered to herself. She turned around to start pacing, but as she briefly looked at the floor of her cube, she became dizzy. The floor was a long way down, and she was surrounded on all sides by open air. She closed her eyes and her world stopped spinning. Slowly, she opened her eyes again, taking in her surroundings from this new elevation, slowly adjusting. That was when she remembered Dwayne's plan. "Just find something to hang on to and leave the rest to me," he had said.

Miley looked all around her cube for something to hold onto, but there was nothing. The entire cube was nothing but smooth glass. As she searched for something, anything she might be able to get a grip on, creatures started to file into the hall beneath her.

Giving up on finding some sort of handhold, Miley watched the attendees of the Masquerade Ball as they entered. Each and every one of them, duck and deer, horse and hare, wore a mask. But the masks were not standard masquerade style masks. Straining her eyes a bit at the distance, Miley saw that the masks had faces. As the woodchucks began to file in, Miley saw a familiar face on a particularly large woodchuck. Dwayne the woodchuck was wearing a mask depicting his former self, The Rock.

All the creatures were wearing masks depicting their former identities. "Creepy," Miley whispered to herself, shivering a little.

Soon, the Great Hall was filled with masked creatures, former humans masquerading as the people they once were. The trumpets sounded again, and all the creatures stood at attention. On the metal platform across the Great Hall from Miley's cube, Krokylus had appeared, standing tall and holding a staff.

"All bow," Krokylus thundered, "for now into the Great Hall enters the Rodent King!"

There was a sound of screeching metal and Miley saw a door in the ceiling open up, revealing a small patch of the roiling purple sky she had seen above her when she had first arrived. Then the patch of sky disappeared as something was lowered through the opening. It was a throne, its golden arms and feet flashing brightly. The throne was twice the width of a normal throne, looking more like a loveseat. The cushion upon it was a bright, royal crimson. The throne was lowered by ropes onto the metal platform and set in the very center of it. Krokylus slashed the ropes with his good claw, and the ropes were pulled back through the opening in the ceiling.

Once the ropes had disappeared, a rope ladder was dropped from the opening, reaching down to the platform. Then, pink nose first, the Rodent King scurried down the ladder and settled upon his throne. Miley crinkled her face up in disgust.

The Rodent King was a rat the size of a Volkswagen. At her distance, if Miley couldn't tell if he was the size of a Bug or a Van, but definitely something in the Volkswagen brand. Comparing his size to Krokylus, she guessed the Rodent King was closer to the size of a Bug. Upon his head sat a golden crown. He took up most of the throne and seemed to be looking disdainfully upon his subjects bowing beneath him.

With a squeak and a few disgusting smacking sounds, the Rodent King spoke. "Let the festivities begin," he said.


	9. Chapter 9  The Masquerade Ball

**Chapter 9**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. No infringement intended.**

A shrill cheer arose from the creatures lined up on the floor beneath Miley as a pipe organ Miley couldn't see began to play a fast-paced baroque dance piece. All the creatures began to dance in an organized manner that reminded Miley of a square dance. Suddenly, a voice sounded inside of her glass cube. "Dance!" ordered the hissing voice of Choroline.

"This isn't the dance we practiced," Miley said, turning around and around, not really sure which direction she should be pointing as she spoke.

"Are you telling me you can't improvise?" replied Choroline's voice.

Miley sighed in irritation. Looking across the Great Hall, she saw that Lilly had already begun to dance, doing her best to mimic the steps of the creatures beneath her. "Fine," Miley growled, and began dancing. Rather than mimic the creatures beneath her, though, she watched Lilly and danced in time with her.

As Miley stepped and turned and whirled in time with Lilly, she couldn't help but notice how graceful Lilly was. _She's so beautiful_, Miley thought to herself, then shuddered as another thought crossed her mind. _Is this the closest I'm ever going to be to her?_

The organized dancing went on for perhaps ten minutes before the pipe organ went silent and the creatures lined up and face the Rodent King again, who addressed the crowd.

"Now it is time to enjoy some of this wonderful food that the squirrels have prepared for us," the Rodent King said, his voice still underlain with squeaks and smacking noises. "While we eat, of course, we will enjoy the comedy of Donald the Duck and Sunny the Sunflower!"

Miley turned to the stage and saw that Ronald and Sunny had appeared there, Ronald standing and Sunny sitting on a barstool. Both Ronald and Sunny wore colorful bowties. Unlike the other ball attendees, though, neither wore a mask. A microphone stood between them.

"Good evening everyone!" Ronald said. "Welcome to the Masquerade Ball. We're so glad you could make it. I'm sure many of you had other places to be."

A bitter laugh rippled through the crowd. Miley looked to Krokylus and the Rodent King, but neither seemed fazed by the open reference to everyone's captive state.

"I certainly hope we can give everyone a few laughs tonight," Sunny said cheerfully.

"But if we don't tickle your funny bones," said Ronald, "don't bother throwing fruit; I'll just duck."

The crowd laughed.

"I was just in my dressing room putting on this snazzy tie," Sunny said, "and there was no lamp. I had specifically asked for a lamp, but there was no lamp. I went to Chancellor Krokylus to complain, and what do I get for my troubles? Crocodile tears."

More laughter, louder and freer this time.

"I told him Sunny would be fine," Ronald said, "that one day Sunny's sure to get some sun through a quack in the ceiling."

There was some laughter, but not as loud as before. Ronald nodded his head. "Sunny thought that was about as funny as most of you did."

"But we kid the chancellor," Sunny said. "We don't want to give him too much grief. It wouldn't do for him to be walking around with a long face."

Louder laughter. Miley looked over to Krokylus and the Rodent King. Krokylus stood still and stoic as ever, but the Rodent King was squirming in laughter.

"We're actually lucky to have a stage tonight; this stage is solid wood," Ronald said, tapping a foot against the stage to reinforce the point. "Someone let the woodchucks in here yesterday before dinner, and they ate the corners off the stage!" As the crowd laughed, Ronald extended a wing, and Miley looked closely to where he pointed and saw that, indeed, the corners of the stage were well chewed.

"I got here just in time," Sunny chimed in. "I yelled, 'Timber!' and they all went running."

The crowd kept laughing.

"Just like beavers!" Sunny continued, and the laughter ratcheted up another level.

"Of course, for those of you who haven't been here very long, you probably don't remember the beavers," Ronald said. "They had to leave after too many complaints from the squirrels."

Sunny chimed in. "The squirrels said the beavers literally ate them out of house and home!"

Now the crowd roared with laughter. Miley thought that one was pretty funny too, but she didn't feel much like laughing. Looking back to the Rodent King, she saw that he was now hanging halfway off his throne, laughing hysterically.

The laughter died down a little, and Ronald spoke again. "That's it for now, but we'll be back later in the evening to get you all quacking up again." The crowd laughed again as Ronald and Sunny walked off the stage.

The lights began to dim slowly and the Rodent King began speaking again. "On a deeper note," he said, "every now and then, we all turn to thoughts of love. Love is a beautiful thing, and it's an utter shame when it's wasted. Love should always be expressed, no matter how that expression comes out. Unrequited love, and, indeed, unacknowledged love is both exquisitely painful and exquisitely beautiful. To watch the players in an unrequited love story dance around each other can be both maddening and inspiring. Unacknowledged love is like a rainbow hidden in the dark, bursting with desire to dance in the light, but never allowed to do so. Thus we have two such players performing for you tonight. Their love for each other is pure and eternal, but they have chosen not to speak it. So now they dwell across from each other, seeing one another, dancing for one another, expressing the music of their souls to each other, but never coming into contact. For is that not the definition of unrequited love, to know each other's heart and soul but never touch, never speak that love? So it is with our rainbow dancers tonight."

By the end of the Rodent King's speech, the lights had gone out completely, and Miley could see that her leotard was now glowing brightly in the colors of the rainbow. Looking across the room, she saw that Lilly's leotard was glowing in an identical fashion.

"This is what we practiced for," came the voice of Choroline. She sounded less angry now, like she might be holding back tears. Miley's own eyes were starting to well up.

_Is the Rodent King implying that I'm in love with Lilly?_ Miley asked herself. Much to her surprise, it didn't seem that implausible. _Could we really be more than just best friends?_

The music started and Miley began dancing as these thoughts flashed through her mind. Her lower lip trembled as she watched the bright colors of Lilly's leotard begin dancing across from her, and as the music's fifth measure ticked over into the sixth, Miley considered that she had always seen these colors when she closed her eyes and thought of her best friend. The seventh measure passed, and Miley began to sing the wordless melody that Cantari had taught her.

In unison, Miley and Lilly danced to the vaulting melody Miley sang. Miley twirled about as Choroline had taught her, and caught a brief glimpse of Krokylus and the Rodent King, who were outlined in a dim, fuzzy light. The Rodent King was standing upright on the platform, having removed his crown and placed it over his heart. Krokylus held his uninjured hand up to his eyes, as if he were wiping tears from them.

More steps and whirls, and Miley watched as the rainbow clad girl across from her matched her every step. Neither made a step without the other. The song's halfway point came, and Miley followed the key change, her voice lifting higher as the forlorn sharps once again brought images unbidden to her mind.

She saw Lilly standing outside on her front porch, the sadness in her eyes asking to be let in. She heard Lilly explaining all over again that Miley was her best friend, not Hannah Montana. She saw Lilly giving her a cake she had baked herself and decorated with pink hearts. She saw Lilly lying asleep as the early morning sun played in her golden hair. She saw Lilly hanging on to her for dear life as she tried to get her up on Blue Jeans. And she saw Lilly waiting patiently in a wheelchair outside the barn until dawn, ready to console Miley if Blue Jeans didn't survive the night. She saw Lilly giving up her college of choice just so she could be with Miley wherever they ended up. She saw Lilly standing just offstage at every show she could possibly make it to, always cheering her on, no matter how many times she had heard the same songs over and over. In every meaningful moment Miley had experienced since she had moved to California, she saw Lilly.

Miley came to the highest note in the song and struck it flawlessly, and now her eyes overflowed ever so slightly, forcing a single tear down her cheek. Somehow, she managed to finish the song without her voice cracking. As the music ended, Miley dropped to her knees, and now her tears overwhelmed her. "I love you," she whispered, knowing Lilly couldn't hear her. But when she looked up, she saw Lilly gazing at her from across the Great Hall, mouthing the very words Miley had just spoken. "I love you," Lilly's lips conveyed. Even though Lilly was too far away for Miley to actually read her lips, she knew what Lilly was saying. She felt it in her heart, and she knew that Lilly could feel it, too.

There was a moment of silence as the crowd processed the emotional impact of the song and dance. Then the Rodent King spoke. "Now, for something a bit more light-hearted, it's time for the Caber Toss!"

"What the heck is a Caber Toss?" Miley wondered to herself.

As if to answer Miley's question, the woodchucks had lined up in two rows next to the stack of logs that sat in front of the stage. Now the woodchucks all wore Scottish kilts. Miley supposed they had changed during the song and dance. The floor of the Great Hall had been cleared, all the attendees of the Masquerade Ball lined up against the walls.

One of the woodchucks from the first row grasped one of the logs and hoisted it upright in his arms. Another woodchuck from the second row grasped another log and did the same. The two woodchucks carried their logs to opposite corners of the Great Hall, one facing in the direction of the Rodent King and standing almost underneath Miley, the other facing in Miley's direction and standing almost directly underneath the Rodent King's platform.

"Go!" the Rodent King shouted in delight, and the woodchucks began running. After running no more than ten feet, each woodchuck launched his log into the air. The logs twirled end over end, finally landing across the room from where they had been tossed.

"How delightful!" the Rodent King said as he laughed jubilantly.

Now two more woodchucks came to the front of the line and hoisted logs. One walked the short distance to stand nearly underneath Miley's glass prison, while the other began to cross the room. Halfway across, this woodchuck turned to look directly at Miley, and she saw that it was Dwayne in his "The Rock" mask. "Hang on," he mouthed, and smiled wickedly.

"Oh no," said Miley, realizing what Dwayne's plan was. "No no no no no!" But there was nothing she could do to stop him now.

"What's your problem?" Choroline hissed over whatever intercom was installed in the glass cube.

"Uh, nothing," Miley said nervously. "Nothing at all." _This is not going to end well_, she thought to herself.

Dwayne took his position on the opposite side of the room from Miley. "Go!" the Rodent King shouted again, and the woodchucks began running. Miley watched helplessly as Dwayne ran across the room toward her. The other woodchuck launched his log, but Dwayne kept running.

"Throw it, you twit!" the Rodent King shouted, but Dwayne ran several more feet before launching the log into the air.

Miley grimaced as she saw the log flying end over end directly at her glass cube. She stood flat against the back of the cube so that, if nothing else, she wouldn't be hit directly by the log. But she had a long way to fall even if she survived the impact.

With a magnificent crash, the log struck the glass cube, and the entire cube disintegrated into thousands, if not millions, of tiny pieces. Miley felt her stomach lurch up into her throat as she began to fall to the ground below.

At that very moment, though, Miley heard a piercing, birdlike cry, and as she watched the floor of the Great Hall grow closer to her face, she felt claws dig painfully into her back. The floor stopped growing closer, and indeed, got further away. Stunned, Miley looked up.

"Cantari!" she cried joyfully.

Below her, Miley heard an uproar beginning. The Rodent King was shouting, but his voice was drowned out by the excited chittering of the creatures on the floor of the Great Hall. Cantari dropped Miley on a small balcony that jutted out from the wall above the Rodent King's platform. Settling on the edge of the balcony for a moment, Cantari looked Miley in the eyes and spoke.

"You've done your singing and dancing," he said. "Go get the rest of your world."

Miley felt like crying for joy, but she held her tears in for the time being. "Thank you," she said. With that, Cantari flew off and Miley found a staircase to her left that led down from the balcony toward the Rodent King's platform and Lilly's glass cube. Glancing down at the scene on the floor of the Great Hall, she saw that at least half the creatures down there had brandished keys and were filtering out of the Great Hall, presumably to unlock all the doors in the entire structure.

Miley ran down the stairs and found herself on a catwalk, the Rodent King's platform on her right, Lilly's glass cube to the left. Without hesitation, she ran to Lilly's prison. At sight of Miley, Lilly ran to the door in the back of the cube and started banging on it. Miley saw a handle attached to the door and tried to turn it, but it wouldn't budge. She pounded her fist on the door, but to no avail. That was when she felt a tall figure looming over her, and Lilly's expression changed from frustration to fear.

Whipping around, Miley found herself in the shadow of Chancellor Krokylus. He lifted his good arm, claw curled into a scaly reptilian fist, and swung as hard as he could. Miley put her hands up to cover her face, preferring a broken arm to a broken skull. But the blow never came. Instead, she heard the crack and tinkle of shattering glass, and felt the pieces raining down over her head and shoulders. She looked up to Krokylus and saw that his eyes were ringed in moisture.

"Go," he said. "I'm sure they've unlocked the top hatch by now." Krokylus pointed to the hatch through which the Rodent King had entered. Miley nodded and turned to the now broken door to Lilly's glass cube. The handle turned freely now, and the door swung open, and Miley found herself wrapped in Lilly's arms.

"Miley," Lilly cried. "Thank you," she said, tears streaming down her cheeks. "And thank you," she said, turning to Krokylus.

"We're not out of the woods yet, Lil," Miley said.

"You've got that right," said a squeaky voice. Miley looked up to see the Rodent King standing on two legs, blocking the catwalk. "You're not going anywhere."

Something landed on Miley's back, sending her sprawling face first to the ground. She rolled over quickly in time to see Choroline leap atop her, hissing viciously. Miley and Choroline grappled, rolling over and over, each trying to gain the upper hand. Choroline lifted a paw and extended her claws, ready to savage Miley's face. That action gave Miley only a short moment to move her right arm, but she took the opportunity, reaching as quickly as she could inside her leotard and into the bra beneath it, producing the bag of catnip Dwayne had handed her. She pulled her arm back just in time to block Choroline's claws before the ripped into her face.

Struggling with Choroline and with the Ziploc bag, Miley ended up underneath Choroline, only barely able to deflect Choroline's claws. At last, she got the bag open and shoved it in Choroline's face. Choroline coughed and gasped, first in anger and agitation, but after a few moments, her gasps took on a pleasured tone, and Miley felt the cat-woman relax. Now Miley easily shoved Choroline off of her and stood up. Krokylus still stood there, observing the madness that continued on the floor of the Great Hall. But Lilly was nowhere to be seen.

Krokylus turned toward the back of the Great Hall and silently extended his good arm, pointing a solitary claw at the hatch that opened onto the roof.

"Thank you," Miley said, then ran for the Rodent King's platform, where the rope ladder once again hung down. Miley clambered up the ladder and out into the roiling purple night above.

Now she stood on top of the structure that had been her prison for the last few days. The structure was rectangular and made of metal. All around her Miley heard the sounds of the waves of the black ocean that surrounded the structure. But what mattered to her was what she saw straight ahead. At the very edge of the structure, the Rodent King held Lilly in his arms. She squirmed, trying to free herself, but to no avail.

"Get back in there or I'll drop her into the ocean!" the Rodent King squealed.

"If you drop her into the ocean, I'll just have to go after her," Miley yelled back, stepping forward.

"Very well," said the Rodent King. Then he stepped off the edge of the structure, pulling Lilly with him as he plummeted into the water below.

Miley ran as quickly as she could to the edge of the structure, and, without stopping or hesitating in any way, launched herself, eyes open, into the water, executing a graceful swan dive, slipping smoothly into the waves.

Under the water, Miley could barely see anything, but she heard a sound nearby that sounded like underwater kicking. Propelling herself forward with her powerful legs, she soon saw the outline of the Rodent King trying to contain an angry Lilly. So far, the Rodent King had kept the upper hand, but he was obviously struggling.

Suddenly, the entire world was filled with a nearly blinding bright white light. Miley could clearly see the Rodent King and Lilly in front of her. The Rodent King kept swimming away from Miley, sticking his nose out of the water occasionally to breathe. One such time, Miley got close enough to him to grab onto his tail.

The regal rodent's tail in hand, Miley kicked her way to the surface of the water, grabbing a deep breath of air. The Rodent King poked his head out of the water, too, and Lilly came up with him. All three gasped for air, but Miley managed to find enough breath to speak.

"Stop keeping us apart!" she demanded.

The Rodent King dove back underneath the water, and Miley held onto his tail, following after. The bright white light still lit up the water, and the Rodent King turned to look at Miley. Suddenly, the Rodent King sprouted hair from the top of his head. Long, curly brown locks now flowed about the Rodent King's head, and then his face transformed. Miley realized she was looking at herself now, not the Rodent King.

The mirror-Miley that had been the Rodent King spoke. "I was you all along," she said.

The white light that permeated the sea grew brighter and brighter until it flushed out everything else, and the light was all Miley could see.


	10. Chapter 10  Love

**Chapter 10**

**A/N: Here we are now at the end of the story. Thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing. I hope you've all enjoyed reading this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. No infringement intended.**

The first thing Miley noticed when she opened her eyes was Lilly's mouth on hers. And Lilly's hands on her chest, pushing, pushing, moaning Miley's name. Miley felt herself starting to drift back into dreamland as she enjoyed whatever it was Lilly was doing to her body. But a nagging doubt forced her eyes open, and she realized that Lilly wasn't touching her in a tender way. Lilly was performing CPR.

"Come on, Miley," Lilly said as she hovered over Miley's face. "Breathe for me, girl."

The blue orbs of Lilly's eyes were watery with strained. Miley tried to take in a breath, just to make Lilly stop looking so sad and afraid, but she found that she couldn't. She tried to pull in a breath, and nothing happened. Frightened, Miley tried to raise her arms to cling to Lilly, but she couldn't move them. She began to panic.

Fortunately for Miley, her panic clouded her perceptions enough that later on she would be unable to remember the events of the next five minutes, which mostly consisted of vomiting up water, as well as her lunch, and trembling violently as her body, no longer in imminent danger, bled off excess adrenaline. When Miley returned to a calmer state of consciousness, she felt weak and cold, but she could breathe and control her limbs again. She couldn't really move her limbs, though, because Lilly was behind her, her arms wrapped tightly around Miley, holding her in place as they both sat on the tile floor beside the pool.

"Lilly," Miley said, her voice a gravelly croak, "Lilly, what happened?"

"You scared me half to death is what happened!" Lilly said, her own voice weak from the terror that had gripped her only minutes before. "You dove into the pool the same way you dive into everything, eyes closed and mouth wide open. Do you think you can stand up? We need to get you back into dry clothes and get you home."

"I think I can do that," Miley said weakly.

Lilly got up on one knee held out both hands, grasping Miley by her wrists. Rising slowly, Lilly got Miley standing on her feet and put her arm around Miley's lower back to support her as she guided her back to the locker room to retrieve their belongings.

"How long was I out?" Miley croaked.

"Just a couple of minutes," Lilly said shakily. "But you weren't breathing. I thought I was going to lose you." Impulsively, Lilly seized Miley, wrapped both arms around her again, holding Miley as close to her as she could, and placed a kiss on Miley's cheek, next to her ear. Tears streamed from her eyes. "I thought I was going to lose you," she repeated.

"I have to tell you something," Miley said, "but not right now. I can barely talk."

"Let's get you home and rested," Lilly said, "then we can talk."

"Sounds good," Miley said.

The girls returned to the lockers. Lilly set Miley down on the bench between the rows of lockers. She didn't want to let go of Miley, not even long enough to let her get dressed, but Miley assured her that she was recovered enough to dress herself. Miley wasn't entirely sure this was true, but she felt like a drowned rat and was reasonably sure she looked like one, too. If Lilly was going to peel Miley's clothes off, Miley wanted it to happen in much different circumstances.

Fortunately for Miley's vanity, she was able to get into her dry clothes without Lilly's assistance. Once Lilly was dressed, she got Miley's car keys from her and went to the parking lot to pull the car up beside the pool building. Returning to the locker room, Lilly slung both her backpack and Miley's over her left shoulder, then hooked her right arm into Miley's left, supporting Miley as they walked out to the car.

**x.x.x**

When Lilly pulled Miley's car into the front driveway, she saw that both Robby Ray's and Jackson's cars were gone. She was more than a little relieved; she didn't feel like explaining to Robby Ray how she had nearly gotten his daughter drowned. Jackson, of course, was Jackson, and Lilly simply didn't feel up to dealing with him in any capacity at the moment.

Lilly parked the car and walked with Miley to the barn-turned-bedroom that they shared.

"Lilly," Miley said as they walked through the door into the bedroom. Her voice was already starting to clear up, sounding more grainy than gravelly now. "I'm going to brush my teeth and get into my pajamas. Will you do me a big favor?"

"Anything," Lilly said emphatically.

"Will you make me some soup?"

Lilly smiled warmly. "Gladly," she said.

Ten minutes later, Lilly returned to the bedroom to find Miley in her bed, lying on her side, facing the door. Lilly carried with her a food tray with a big bowl of steaming chicken noodle soup set on top of it. Miley sat up in her bed and Lilly placed the tray in front of her. "Here you go, beautiful," Lilly said as she got the tray settled into place. "I'll be right back with a glass of milk." As she moved to the door, she placed a hand on Miley's shoulder, squeezing softly.

"Can I just have a glass of water?" Miley asked.

"No!" Lilly said sharply, her thumb rubbing circles against the top of Miley's arm. "No more water for you today, Miles."

Miley chuckled. "I guess you're right," she said. "Milk is fine."

Lilly returned with two glasses of milk and a sandwich she had made for herself. She sat on the side of the bed and joined Miley in silence as they ate. When the food was gone, Lilly returned the dishes to the kitchen, then returned to Miley.

"Are you feeling better?" Lilly asked as she crawled into Miley's bed and wrapped Miley in a tight embrace.

"I feel a lot better," Miley said, snuggling into Lilly's hug and stroking her back soothingly. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Lilly looked into Miley's eyes and smirked unconvincingly. "I'm not the one who almost drowned, Miley," she said.

"But you are the one who's probably blaming herself for something that isn't her fault."

Tears welled up in Lilly's eyes and started to spill over. "It is my fault, Miley," she said. "I pushed you to learn to dive, and then you almost died."

"Because I didn't listen to you, Lilly," Miley said. "You told me I should practice diving off the side of the pool more, but I didn't listen. Then you saved my life, which you wouldn't have had to do if I had listened to you in the first place. You have nothing to feel guilty about."

"I can't help it," Lilly said. "I can't stop asking myself what if—"

Miley cut her off. "No 'what ifs' allowed," she said. "You were there and you saved my life. That's the long and short of it. Nothing else."

Lilly smiled. "Thanks, Miley," she said.

"Shouldn't I be thanking you?" said Miley.

"Let's just both be thankful to each other," Lilly said. "And for each other."

"I like the sound of that," said Miley. "Thank you, Lilly, for saving my life and for being Lilly." Miley leaned in and kissed Lilly's forehead. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she repeated, tightening her arms' grip around Lilly.

The girls held each other quietly for several minutes before Lilly broke the silence. "What was it you wanted to tell me earlier, Miley?" she asked.

Miley directed her intense gaze directly into Lilly's eyes. "I wanted to tell you that I understood how you felt. When you said you thought you were going to lose me. While I was under the water, I had a dream. It must have been a dream, but it felt completely real. I was a prisoner, and so were you, and we weren't allowed to see each other."

"Why not?" Lilly asked.

"We were being held by an evil king," Miley explained. "Well, he seemed evil at first. He kidnapped us to dance at a Masquerade Ball he was putting on. But when he introduced us at the Masquerade Ball, he said the strangest, most beautiful thing. He said that the love we have for each other is pure and eternal, but that we would never speak it. He said that our souls touched in a way our bodies never would. When he said all that stuff, I realized something that had been right in front of me for what seems like forever, but I never opened my eyes long enough to see it, never shut my mouth long enough to hear it."

Miley paused, then took a breath and spoke again. "I'm in love with you, Lilly."

At the sound of those words, Lilly surged forward and pressed her lips against Miley's, kissing her briefly but intensely. "I love you, too," she said before engaging Miley's lips once again. As Miley returned Lilly's kiss, she tasted the salt of tears. Opening her eyes, she saw that tears were streaming down Lilly's face and dripping onto her own. The salty taste told Miley all she needed to know about how long Lilly had felt this way about her.

"I'm sorry I never saw it before," Miley said, separating her lips from Lilly's just enough to speak. "I'm sorry you had to feel this way alone."

"You were worth the wait," said Lilly.

"When I was under the water, in that dream I had, someone asked me a question, Miley said. "He asked me if singing and dancing was my whole life. I told him that singing and dancing was almost my whole life, but that you're the rest of my world."

"That's beautiful, Miley," Lilly said. "You're beautiful. Thank you for being you."

"Hey, if I wasn't me, I wouldn't know what to do with myself," Miley said. Lilly laughed.

There was a sudden thump from the walkway outside the barn doors, startling both Lilly and Miley. The thump was followed immediately by the loud hissing of one of the stray cats that lived out in the nearby woods. The hissing was accompanied by the rapid singing of an alarmed bird. Miley jumped up from the bed and crossed the room, opening the top half of the barn door in time to see a vividly colored bird flutter to a perch on top of the bottom half of the door. The bird had a shining, purple head, a body made up of whirls and speckles of different blues, and an orange breast.

Miley and Lilly gasped at the same time. The colorful starling cocked its head back and forth as if examining Miley, who was standing as still as she could, afraid any sudden movements might scare the bird away. Lilly got out of Miley's bed and crept toward Miley and the bird.

The bird's attention turned to Lilly and it started to sing its slow song. The bird turned back to Miley, repeated its song, then, without warning, took flight, flapping away and out of sight. "Cantari . . ." Miley mouthed silently after the bird.

"Miley!" Lilly whispered. "Do you know what kind of bird that was?" she asked excitedly.

Miley turned to look at Lilly incredulously. "Do you?"

"On summer vacation one year, I think I was eight or nine that year, my Dad took up bird-watching," said Lilly. "To make a long story short, he ended up driving the whole family all the way up to the Canadian border, stopping at every other tree to see if we could find a new bird."

"And you saw one of those?" Miley asked.

"No," said Lilly. "They're called Hildebrandt's starlings. I learned about them when my Dad started collecting brochures on African safaris."

"You went on a safari?" Miley interjected.

"No, my Mom put a stop to that as soon as she found the brochures," said Lilly. "But I still looked through his bird-watching guide, and I remembered that one because it was so pretty."

"And they only live in Africa?" asked Miley.

"That's the only place they're native to," said Lilly. "That one was probably somebody's pet that broke out of its cage."

Miley smiled. "I think that's probably exactly what happened," she said.

The girls' hands found each other, and they stood there leaning into each other, quietly watching the sky pass from late afternoon into early evening. At last, Lilly broke the silence.

"Miley, what are you going to do about Jesse?" she said.

Miley scrunched up her nose like she did whenever she didn't know what to say but was dead set on saying something anyway. "Change my phone number and then we run off to Paris?" she offered.

"Ooh, Paris," Lilly said, smiling dreamily and cuddling closer to Miley. "Lilly likie. But you do have to tell him."

"What about Oliver?" Miley asked.

Lilly sputtered with laughter. "Oliver? Miley, I've been dating him to make you jealous. He knows I'm in love with you; he was just trying to help me get my girl." She kissed Miley on the cheek, then laid her head down on Miley's shoulder.

"Why couldn't you just tell me how you felt?" Miley asked, unsure how she felt about the ruse Lilly and Oliver had played on her.

"I was afraid you would say 'no,'" Lilly said. "I didn't think I could take that, so I wanted to know how you felt before I said anything. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Miley said, shifting so that she and Lilly were standing face to face. "If I hadn't been lying to myself, you wouldn't have had to do that in the first place." Miley leaned in and kissed Lilly's lips. Lilly kissed back and the girls lost themselves for a while, kissing deeper and deeper as their tongues met and then moved together, dancing in time to the music of their souls.

Hours later, after the girls had migrated back to Miley's bed to find new pleasures in each other, after Lilly had kissed and caressed Miley's porcelain white breasts, after Miley had writhed and moaned and finally screamed beneath Lilly's attentions, after Lilly had lain back down on the bed only to be pounced upon by Miley a moment later, and after both girls had screamed each other's names numerous times, they lay cuddled against each other, Miley lying on her back, Lilly on her side snuggled against the crook of Miley's neck. Miley held Lilly's hand, gently kissing each finger again and again, while Lilly placed light, feathery kisses on Miley's neck and shoulder. As Lilly kissed lower on Miley's arm, she saw something that her mind had, until that moment, been too preoccupied to notice.

"Miley," she said, her voice muffled by Miley's arm, as she didn't bother to stop placing her kisses while she spoke, "how did your arm get all scratched up? It looks like you got clawed by a giant cat."

Miley, her eyes wide in amazement, turned to look at the scratches on her arm. She looked up from her arm and into Lilly's eyes. "I did get scratched by a giant cat," she said, "but it was in the dream I had when I was underwater. It wasn't real."

"Maybe it's a side effect of being you," Lilly said after a thoughtful pause.

"What do you mean?" asked Miley.

"I mean," said Lilly, "that you're like the physical incarnation of dreams coming true. You're a world famous pop star, you live on a ranch with horses and hot tubs in a place where the weather is nice year-round, and after all those dreams come true, you have a dream that leads to us here, cuddled in each other's arms and happier than we've ever been. With all those good dreams coming true, maybe picking up a few scratches from the bad dreams is par for the course."

Miley smiled lovingly at Lilly and kissed her gently. "I'd take any number of scratches, any injury at all, as long as it led me to you," she said, then kissed Lilly again.

"I love you, Miley," Lilly said.

"I love you, Lilly," Miley said as she increased the pace of her kisses.

Soon, the girls lost themselves in each other's arms again.

**A/N: Much of the imagery in this story was inspired by Dio's 1983 album, **_**Holy Diver**_**, particularly the songs "Holy Diver" and "Rainbow in the Dark." If you like hard rock or heavy metal at all, it is an essential classic, and it's what I listened to for most of the time that I was writing this story. It's an amazing album and I hope that many of you will give it a listen if you haven't heard it before.**


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